Kanji 生 — "Life"
Here is what 生 means, how it is read, what it is built from, and a story that makes "Life" stick.
How it is read
せい, しょう
the reading borrowed from Chinese — usually appears in compound words
い.きる, い.かす, い.ける, う.まれる, うま.れる, う.まれ, うまれ, う.む, お.う, は.える, は.やす, き, なま, なま-, な.る, な.す, む.す, -う
the native Japanese reading — usually appears when the kanji stands alone
How to remember it
Kanji are not random strokes. Learn the parts and the whole becomes easy. Put the parts together into one picture. The stranger it is, the harder it is to forget.
A person's Life can be tragically cut short if they are shot by a Gun and buried in the Soil.
- 𠂉 Gun
A variant form of 人 but its shape looks like a Gun, so it's called Gun.
- 土 Soil
A cross is stuck into the ground, so this component means Soil.
Words that use 生
12 of 57 words in the app that contain this kanji — the most common ones first.
- 先生 せんせい teacher, professor, master
- 生きる いきる to live (v.i.)
- 人生 じんせい (human) life (e.g., conception to death)
- 生ける いける to arrange (flowers) (v.t.)
- 生徒 せいと student
- 生 せい / なま birth, life
- 生活 せいかつ life, living, livelihood
- 一生 いっしょう throughout (one's) life, whole life
- 誕生日 たんじょうび birthday
- 一生懸命 いっしょうけんめい very hard (as in "to work hard"), with utmost effort
- 学生 がくせい student, pupil
- 発生 はっせい outbreak, spring forth, occurrence
Want 生 to still be there next month?
Reading it once is not remembering it. The app brings each kanji back right before you would have forgotten it.
