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How to write 生 (shēng, “to grow”)

生 (shēng), an HSK 1 character, means “to grow”, “to arise” and “to light”. China and Japan order its strokes differently: Chinese stroke 3, going rightwards, is the 4th in Japanese schools; Chinese stroke 4, going downwards, is the 3rd in Japanese schools. On its own it is an HSK 4 word; it also forms 先生 (“teacher”), 医生 (“doctor”) and 学生 (“student”). Japanese reads it sei, “life”, as a JLPT N5 kanji.

Pinyin
shēng
Strokes
5
HSK
1
Radical
生 (“to grow”)

Stroke by stroke

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5

As an overlapping character it splits into 一 (“one”), stroke 2; 土 (“earth”), strokes 3–5, written the first part first.

  1. top leftdown and right → down and left
  2. leftrightwards
  3. leftrightwards
  4. topdownwards
  5. bottom leftrightwards

Names of the strokes

Two stroke orders

Japan and China order its strokes differently: 2 strokes sit in another place. Japanese 3 = Chinese 4; Japanese 4 = Chinese 3.

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Japanese · KanjiVG · 5 strokes
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Chinese · Make Me a Hanzi · 5 strokes

Trace it

Follow the numbers. Tracing help

Pinyin and meaning

PinyinMeaningsTraditionalIn words
shēng
first tone		to grow; to give birth; to produce; to be born; to arise; to occur; to light (a fire); to live; to be alive; life—医生 生病 中学生 大学生
HSK 2025 syllabus
level 1
2021 standard
level 1
HSK 2.0
in a level 1 word
Words with it
734 in CC-CEDICT

Words with 生

WordPinyinMeaning
生shēngto grow; to give birth HSK 4
先生xiānshengteacher; gentleman HSK 1
医生 醫生yīshēngdoctor; medical practitioner HSK 1
学生 學生xuéshēngstudent; schoolchild HSK 1
生病shēngbìngto fall ill HSK 1
中学生 中學生zhōngxuéshēngmiddle-school student; high school student HSK 1
大学生 大學生dàxuéshēnguniversity student; college student HSK 1
小学生 小學生xiǎoxuéshēngprimary school student; schoolchild HSK 1
生日shēngrìbirthday HSK 2
出生chūshēngto be born HSK 3

HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).

Practice sheet

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Keep going

Contain it:

HSK 1, in list order: