超生 (chāo shēng) — (Buddhism) to be merciful, to spare life; to be reincarnated; (policy) to have children outside the state plan, to exceed the birth quota

Definition

超生 has two unrelated senses: in Buddhism, to spare a life / be reincarnated; in population policy, to have children beyond the birth quota (a punishable offense in China).

verb
(Buddhism) to be mercifulto spare lifeto be reincarnated(policy) to have children outside the state plan, to exceed the birth quota
Easily confused

Examples

  • 超生。
    Tā yīn wèi chāo shēng bèi fá le yí dà bǐ qián.
    He was fined a large amount of money for having an unauthorized child.
  • ，超生。
    Zài yǐ qián, nóng cūn de chāo shēng xiàn xiàng hěn cháng jiàn.
    In the past, the phenomenon of exceeding the birth quota was common in rural areas.
  • ，超生！
    Qiú nín dà fā cí bēi, chāo shēng wǒ zhè huí ba!
    I beg you to be merciful and spare my life this time!

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

超chāoexceed
生shēngbirth

“超” means to exceed and “生” means birth, so it means to go beyond the allowed births.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
走走zǒurun
Sound part声符shēngfú
召
召zhào超chāo
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

超 pairs 走, meaning “run,” with 召, which gives the sound.

Open 超 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

生 shows 屮 (a bud) above 一 (the ground), drawing a sprout coming up from the earth.

Open 生 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.