yī​shēng​yī​shì

lifetime

one

A single horizontal stroke, representing the number one.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Wu) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Meaning (2 of 7 verified)

Unknown (2)

Distinguishing (1)

Simplified (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagart'jitʔi[t] one

說文解字

《說文》:“一,惟初太始,道立於一,造分天地,化成萬物。弌,古文一。”

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

shēng, sheng life

Pictograph of a sprout () emerging from the ground ().

Components

Iconic component
chè, cǎo sprout

Depicts a sprout growing.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to than it was in ancient scripts.
Iconic component
one

Used here to depict the ground.


Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (7 of 11 verified)

Meaning (4 of 5 verified)

Deleted (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartsraengsreŋ (MC srj- > sr-; or *s.reŋ ?)bear, be born; live
sraengsreŋ fresh, raw
srjaengsreŋ (or *s.reŋ ?)bear, be born; live

說文解字

《說文》:“生,進也。象艸木生出土上。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.506漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

shì generation

Original meaning: leaf

Depicts three leaves on branches of a tree. Remnant from the top part of . Based on the original meaning "leaf", now written as . The meaning later shifted to "generation", since leaves pile up in hundreds much like a generation.

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Spring and Autumn 771-476 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Spring and Autumn ~700 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

Iconic (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartsyejHl̥ap-s generation

說文解字

《說文》:“世,三十年為一世,从卉而曳長之,亦取其聲也。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.159劉志基《中國漢字文物大系》Vol 3, p.70
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica