HSK 6 · Time

终身 zhōngshēn “lifelong” in Chinese

Traditional 終身

What 终身 means

  1. lifelong
  2. all one’s life

How to say 终身

  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale终zhōng1st tone, high and level
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale身shēn1st tone, high and level

终身 in a sentence

  1. 我喜欢画油画，但是我不想拿它做我的终身职业。

    Wǒ xǐhuan huà yóuhuà, dànshì wǒ bù xiǎng ná tā zuò wǒ de zhōngshēn zhíyè.

    I like oil painting, but I don’t want to make it my lifelong career.

    Sentence #420970 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 汤姆终身未娶。

    Tāngmǔ zhōngshēn wèi qǔ.

    Tom never married.

    Sentence #8935930 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 终身 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 终 (zhōng) with each of its parts in a different colour
终zhōngend
  • 纟silk form of 糸 · mìMeaning part
  • 冬part of the characterSound part
The character 身 (shēn) drawn as one shape
身shēnbody

身 is a single shape of 7 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidDrawn from a person with a large belly: the body.

How to write 终身

终 8 strokes · 身 7 strokes

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

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

Words related to 终身

Words with 终

终于zhōngyú · at last最终zuìzhōng · final始终shǐzhōng · from beginning to end终止zhōngzhǐ · to terminate终点zhōngdiǎn · finish line终究zhōngjiū · after all

Words with 身

身体shēntǐ · body身边shēnbiān · at one’s side身高shēngāo · (a person’s) height身份shēnfèn · identity身材shēncái · stature健身jiànshēn · to work out随身suíshēn · to carry with you出身chūshēn · family background浑身húnshēn · all over (the body)动身dòngshēn · to set out

More words: Time & Sequence

元宵节Yuánxiāojié · Lantern Festival预先yùxiān · in advance暂且zànqiě · for the time being正月zhēngyuè · first month of the lunar year周年zhōunián · anniversary周期zhōuqī · cycle昼夜zhòuyè · day and night逐年zhúnián · year after year

FAQs

终身 (zhōngshēn) means “lifelong” or “all one’s life”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it zhōngshēn: zhōng with a 1st tone, then shēn 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, 终身 is written 終身. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type zhongshen with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 终身 from the suggestions. Typing zhongshen into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
终身 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.