野生 (yě shēng) — wild, undomesticated | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Used for animals, plants, or environments that exist in nature, not raised by humans. Contrast with 野蛮 ('barbaric/uncivilized', about behavior) — 野生 is about nature, not people.

adjective

wildundomesticated

Examples

野生。
Wǒ men yīng gāi bǎo hù yě shēng dòng wù.
We should protect wild animals.
野生。
Tā xǐ huan chī yě shēng cǎo méi.
He likes to eat wild strawberries.
。
Zhè zhǒng zhí wù zài yě shēng huán jìng zhōng shēng zhǎng dé hěn kuài.
This kind of plant grows very fast in the wild environment.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

野 (wild) and 生 (grow) combine to mean growing in the wild, not domesticated.

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

田田tiánfield

土土tǔearth

Sound part声符shēngfú

予

予yǔ野yě

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

野 combines 田 (field) above 土 (earth) to show open country, with 予 giving the sound.

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

屮屮chèbud
一一yīground

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

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 6 Biology

Browse more HSK 6 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.