(shèng) - holy, sacred; sage in Mandarin
shèngTraditional: 聖
Translation
holy, sacred; sage
Word origin
The traditional form 聖 combines 耳 (ear) and 口 (mouth) over 壬 (phonetic): one who listens well and speaks well, hence a sage. The simplified 圣 writes 又 (hand) over 土 (earth).
- Origin
- Chinese character
- Root
- 耳 (ear) + 口 (mouth) + 壬 (phonetic)
Stroke order
圣
Examples
。
To local people this mountain is a holy mountain.
。
On Christmas Day the whole family comes home.
孔。
The ancients called Confucius a sage.
。
A very old Bible sits in the church.
。
Every year he goes to visit that holy site.
圣 (shèng) covers two related ideas: holy in the religious sense, and sagely in the classical Chinese sense of a person of the highest wisdom. Both show up in compounds you will meet early: 圣诞节 for Christmas, 圣人 for a sage, 圣经 for the Bible, 圣地 for a holy site.
The religious use came with translation. Missionaries needed a word for holy and reached for the character already used of Confucius and the sage kings, which is why one syllable now sits comfortably in both a temple and a church.
The trap is that 圣 almost never stands alone in modern Mandarin. It is a bound morpheme: you cannot say 很圣 the way you say 很好. When you want holy as a predicate, use the two-syllable 神圣 (这个地方很神圣). Treat 圣 as a building block, learn it inside the compounds, and you will be fine.
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圣: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "圣" (holy, sacred; sage): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
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Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 56.