(xìng mìng) - life, one's very life in Mandarin
xìngmìngTraditional: 性命
Translation
life, one's very life
Word origin
A compound of 性 (xìng, inborn nature, built from 忄, the heart radical, plus 生 as phonetic) and 命 (mìng, life span, fate), together the living span a creature is granted.
- Origin
- compound
- Root
- 性 (xìng, inborn nature) + 命 (mìng, life, fate)
Stroke order
性
命
Examples
祸。
That crash nearly cost him his life.
。
The doctor saved her life.
，。
To lose your life over a few coins is not worth it.
河。
He risked his life jumping into the river to save someone.
。
This affair touches the lives of a great many people.
性命 (xìng mìng) is the life you can lose this afternoon. It is the bare fact of being alive, counted with the measure word 条: 一条性命. The verbs around it are blunt ones, 要, 丢, 救, and the fixed phrase 性命危险 covers everything from a mountain rescue to a bad diagnosis.
That makes it a word of accidents, wars, operating theatres and news bulletins. It is common in speech precisely because those situations are, and 保住性命, to hold on to your life, is what a doctor says when the outcome was close.
The trap is 生命, which a dictionary also translates as "life". 生命 is life in the abstract and the biological: 生命的意义, the meaning of life, 地球上的生命, life on Earth. Swap them and you get nonsense in both directions. Nobody writes 性命的意义, and a surgeon does not save your 生命.
Where this fits
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性命: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "性命" (life, one's very life): 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 57.