What does the kanji 生 mean?

The kanji 生 (ikiru) means "life, genuine, birth". It is a JLPT N5 character.

What kanji is "ikiru"?

"ikiru" is written with the kanji 生, meaning "life, genuine, birth". Its readings are onyomi (Chinese-derived) せい (sei), しょう (shō), kunyomi (native Japanese) いきる (ikiru), うむ (umu), おう (ō), はえる (haeru), なま (nama). It is a JLPT N5 character.

How do you write the kanji 生?

Write 生 ("life") by following the correct stroke order. Use the interactive, step-by-step stroke order animation on this page to practise each stroke in sequence and build muscle memory.

What are the readings of 生?

生 has these readings: onyomi (Chinese-derived) せい (sei), しょう (shō), kunyomi (native Japanese) いきる (ikiru), うむ (umu), おう (ō), はえる (haeru), なま (nama).

生“life” Kanjiikiru / sei

JLPT N5

How to write 生

生 (life) kanji stroke order diagram with numbered strokes

Meaning and readings

Meaning

life, genuine, birth

Onyomi (音読み)

せい sei
しょう shō

Chinese reading

Kunyomi (訓読み)

い（きる） i(kiru)
う（む） u(mu)
お（う） o(u)
は（える） ha(eru)
なま nama

Japanese reading

Practice 生 on paper — a printable tracing grid with stroke order

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Example sentences using 生

Human-reviewed sentence pairs from the Tatoeba corpus, with readings shown above the kanji.

先生せんせいの名前なまえはグレイ先生せんせいでした。
The teacher's name was Mr Grey.
先生 (せんせい)
JP#141722bysmall_snowEN#272848bysundownCC BY 2.0 FR Tatoeba Project
たくさんの学生がくせいがアルバイトをする。
A lot of students do part-time jobs.
学生 (がくせい)
JP#203799bybunbukuEN#41040byCKCC BY 2.0 FR Tatoeba Project
水みずなしでは、生いきていけない。
One can't live without water.
生き (いき)
JP#143801bysmall_snowEN#427748bywitbrockCC BY 2.0 FR Tatoeba Project

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Read 生 in a story

Short Japanese comics written so that every word in them is JLPT N5. One of them teaches this character — the match is on the words an episode teaches, not every character in its dialogue.