HSK 6 · Verbs

牺牲 xīshēng “to sacrifice” in Chinese

Traditional 犧牲

What 牺牲 means

  1. to sacrifice
  2. to give one’s life
  3. to sacrifice one’s life
  4. to sacrifice (sth valued)

How to say 牺牲

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale牺xī1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale牲shēng1st tone, high and level

牺牲 in a sentence

  1. 他以牺牲自己的健康为代价完成了这项工作。

    Tā yǐ xīshēng zìjǐ de jiànkāng wéi dàijià wánchéng le zhè xiàng gōngzuò.

    He finished the job at the cost of his own health.

    Sentence #333400 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 牺牲 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 牺 (xī) with each of its parts in a different colour
牺xīsacrifice
  • 牛cow · niúMeaning part
  • 西west · xīSound part

牛 hints at the meaning (cow); 西 (xī) hints at the sound. Compare it with xī.

The character 牲 (shēng) with each of its parts in a different colour
牲shēngdomestic animal
  • 牛cow · niúMeaning part
  • 生life · shēngSound part

牛 hints at the meaning (cow); 生 (shēng) hints at the sound. Compare it with shēng.

How to write 牺牲

牺 10 strokes · 牲 9 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

牺牲 (xīshēng) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 牺牲 (xīshēng). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 牺牲

Words with 牲

牲畜shēngchù · livestock

More words: Common Verbs

消灭xiāomiè · to wipe out携带xiédài · to carry (on one’s person)协助xiézhù · to assist熄灭xīmiè · to go out修复xiūfù · to repair修建xiūjiàn · to build选拔xuǎnbá · to select (the best)悬挂xuánguà · to hang

FAQs

牺牲 (xīshēng) means “to sacrifice” or “to give one’s life”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it xīshēng: xī with a 1st tone, then shēng with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 牺牲 is written 犧牲. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type xisheng with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 牺牲 from the suggestions. Typing xisheng into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
牺牲 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.