HSK 4 · Work

生意 shēngyi “business” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 生意 means

  1. business
  2. trade

Measure word 笔 bǐ · 一笔生意 yì bǐ shēngyi

How to say 生意

  • 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 neutral tone: short and light, with no contour of its own意yineutral tone, light and short

Grey pinyin is a neutral tone: say it short and light. More on the neutral tone

生意 in a sentence

  1. 生意怎么样？

    Shēngyi zěnmeyàng?

    How’s business?

    Sentence #431126 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 他退休的时候，他儿子接手了他的生意。

    Tā tuìxiū de shíhou, tā érzi jiēshǒu le tā de shēngyi.

    When he retired, his son took over his business.

    Sentence #334035 from Tatoeba

  3. 爸爸因为做生意去了香港。

    Bàba yīnwèi zuò shēngyi qù le Xiānggǎng.

    Dad went to Hong Kong on business.

    Sentence #1878226 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 生意 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 意 (yì) with each of its parts in a different colour
意yìidea; thought; meaning; senselight in 生意
  • 音sound · yīnSound part
  • 心heart · xīnMeaning part

心 hints at the meaning (heart); 音 (yīn) hints at the sound. Compare it with yi.

Memory aidA sound 音 from the heart 心: a thought, a meaning.

How to write 生意

生 5 strokes · 意 13 strokes

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

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

Words related to 生意

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 意

意思yìsi · meaning没意思méiyìsi · boring有意思yǒuyìsi · interesting不好意思bùhǎoyìsi · to feel embarrassed同意tóngyì · agree愿意yuànyì · be willing注意zhùyì · pay attention to满意mǎnyì · satisfied意见yìjiàn · idea得意déyì · proud of oneself

More words: School, Work & Culture

警察jǐngchá · police竞争jìngzhēng · to compete零钱língqián · change (of money)律师lǜshī · lawyer师傅shīfu · master收入shōurù · income售货员shòuhuòyuán · salesperson现金xiànjīn · cash

FAQs

生意 (shēngyi) means “business” or “trade”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it shēngyi: shēng with a 1st tone, then yi with a neutral tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 生意 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Use 笔 (bǐ). For example, one business is 一笔生意 (yì bǐ shēngyi).
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type shengyi with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 生意 from the suggestions. Typing shengyi into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
生意 is an HSK 4 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.