Meaning & readings
life, genuine, birth
On’yomi セイ、ショウ
Kun’yomi 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
Nanori あさ、いき、いく、いけ、うぶ、うまい、え、おい、ぎゅう、くるみ、ごせ、さ、じょう、すぎ、そ、そう、ちる、なば、にう、にゅう、ふ、み、もう、よい、りゅう
Origin
The character 生 appears to be a simple pictograph showing a plant or seedling sprouting from the ground. The lower strokes represent the earth or soil, while the upper strokes depict a young shoot growing upward. This image of new growth naturally came to mean "life" and "birth," since plants are among the most visible examples of living things beginning and developing. Over time, the character expanded to include meanings like "genuine" or "raw," likely because something newly born or grown is in its natural, unprocessed state.
Components
This character is treated as a single, undivided shape (生).
Common words
Reference
- Strokes
- 5
- Kangxi radical
- 100
- Formation type
- Pictographic or simple
- Grade
- Grade 1 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #29 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 4
- Unicode
- U+0751F