HSK 6 · Body

性命 xìngmìng “life (of a person or animal)” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 性命 means

  1. life (of a person or animal)
  2. life

How to say 性命

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale性xìng4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale命mìng4th tone, falling

性命 in a sentence

  1. 事故差点让他丢了性命。

    Shìgù chàdiǎn ràng tā diū le xìngmìng.

    The accident almost cost him his life.

    Sentence #347426 from Tatoeba

How 性命 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 性 (xìng) with each of its parts in a different colour
性xìngnature
  • 忄heart form of 心 · xīnMeaning part
  • 生life · shēngSound part

忄 hints at the meaning (heart); 生 (shēng) hints at the sound. Compare it with xìng.

The character 命 (mìng) with each of its parts in a different colour
命mìnglife
  • 令command · líng
  • 口mouth · kǒu

How to write 性命

性 8 strokes · 命 8 strokes

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

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

Words related to 性命

Words with 性

性xìng · (suffix) -ness性别xìngbié · gender性格xìnggé · nature个性gèxìng · individuality性质xìngzhì · nature慢性mànxìng · chronic (illness)任性rènxìng · wilful性感xìnggǎn · sexy记性jìxing · memory (ability to remember)弹性tánxìng · elasticity

Words with 命

生命shēngmìng · life寿命shòumìng · life span命令mìnglìng · order命运mìngyùn · fate命名mìngmíng · to name拼命pīnmìng · desperately任命rènmìng · to appoint革命gémìng · revolution使命shǐmìng · mission要命yàomìng · terribly

More words: People, Body & Health

消毒xiāodú · to disinfect膝盖xīgài · knee细菌xìjūn · bacteria新陈代谢xīnchéndàixiè · metabolism胸膛xiōngtáng · chest嗅觉xiùjué · sense of smell血压xuèyā · blood pressure眼色yǎnsè · meaningful look

FAQs

性命 (xìngmìng) means “life (of a person or animal)” or “life”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it xìngmìng: xìng with a 4th tone, then mìng with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 性命 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type xingming with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 性命 from the suggestions. Typing xingming into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
性命 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.