HSK 6 · Ideas

生肖 shēngxiào “Chinese zodiac sign” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 生肖 means

  1. Chinese zodiac sign
  2. one of the twelve animals symbolic of the earthly branches 地支
  3. animal from the Chinese zodiac

How to say 生肖

  • 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肖xiào4th tone, falling

生肖 in a sentence

  1. 十二生肖里没有猫的原因很简单。

    Shí'èr shēngxiào lǐ méiyǒu māo de yuányīn hěn jiǎndān.

    The reason there is no cat among the twelve zodiac animals is simple.

    Sentence #737869 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters

  2. 从根本上说，十二生肖的形成，与动物崇拜有关。

    Cóng gēnběn shàng shuō, shí'èr shēngxiào de xíngchéng, yǔ dòngwù chóngbài yǒuguān.

    Fundamentally, the formation of the twelve zodiac signs is related to animal worship.

    Sentence #737782 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 生肖 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 肖 (xiào) with each of its parts in a different colour
肖xiàosimilar
  • ⺌small form of 小 · xiǎoSound part
  • ⺼meat form of 肉 · ròuMeaning part

⺼ hints at the meaning (meat); ⺌ (xiǎo) hints at the sound. Compare it with xiào.

How to write 生肖

生 5 strokes · 肖 7 strokes

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

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

Words related to 生肖

Words with 生

医生yīshēng · doctor学生xuésheng · student先生xiānsheng · mr大学生dàxuéshēng · university student小学生xiǎoxuéshēng · primary school student中学生zhōngxuéshēng · middle-school student生日shēngrì · birthday生病shēngbìng · to get sick生气shēngqì · angry女生nǚshēng · female student

Words with 肖

肖像xiàoxiàng · portrait

More words: Ideas & Concepts

弱点ruòdiǎn · weakness涉及shèjí · to involve生机shēngjī · vitality声势shēngshì · momentum声誉shēngyù · reputation神仙shénxiān · immortal是非shìfēi · right and wrong事迹shìjì · deed

FAQs

生肖 (shēngxiào) means “Chinese zodiac sign” or “one of the twelve animals symbolic of the earthly branches 地支”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it shēngxiào: shēng with a 1st tone, then xiào with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 生肖 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shengxiao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 生肖 from the suggestions. Typing shengxiao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
生肖 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.