HSK 6 · Nature

生物 shēngwù “living thing” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 生物 means

  1. living thing
  2. organism
  3. biology
  4. living creature
  5. life form
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • (attributive) biological
  • bio-

How to say 生物

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale生shēng1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale物wù4th tone, falling

生物 in a sentence

  1. 老鼠是胆小的生物。

    Lǎoshǔ shì dǎnxiǎo de shēngwù.

    Mice are timid creatures.

    Sentence #8795175 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 没有水,没有生物能够存活。

    Méiyǒu shuǐ, méiyǒu shēngwù nénggòu cúnhuó.

    Without water, no living thing could survive.

    Sentence #3468057 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 怎么会有猫咪这么可爱的生物?

    Zěnme huì yǒu māomī zhème kě'ài de shēngwù?

    How can there be a creature as adorable as a cat?

    Sentence #10042032 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 生物 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 生 (shēng) drawn as one shape
生shēngto grow; to give birth; to produce

生 is a single shape of 5 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidA shoot growing up out of the soil 土: to grow, to be born.

The character 物 (wù) with each of its parts in a different colour
物wùthing
  • 牛cow · niúMeaning part
  • 勿must not · wùSound part

牛 hints at the meaning (cow); 勿 (wù) hints at the sound. Compare it with wù.

Memory aidAn ox 牛, which the oldest Chinese dictionary calls the largest of things, with 勿 (wù) for the sound: a thing.

How to write 生物

生 5 strokes · 物 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 生物

Words with 生

Words with 物

More words: Nature & Environment

FAQs

生物 (shēngwù) means “living thing” or “organism”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it shēngwù: shēng with a 1st tone, then wù with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 生物 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shengwu with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 生物 from the suggestions. Typing shengwu into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
生物 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.