Kanji · JLPT N5 · Level 5
生 life, birth
- Meaning
- life, birth
- On reading
- セイ
- Kun reading
- い(きる)・う(まれる)
Memory hook
A shoot pushing up out of the earth, breaking the soil. セイ in compounds, い(きる) to live, う(まれる) to be born. This one has more readings than any other N5 kanji; learn them word by word.
Words that use 生
学生
がくせい
student
生まれる
うまれる
to be born
How to write 生
Stroke order · 5 strokes
1
2
3
4
5
- 1. The sweep down to the left.
- 2. The horizontal across the top.
- 3. The vertical through the centre.
- 4. The horizontal across the middle.
- 5. The horizontal across the bottom.
Stroke data from KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.
General rules
- Top to bottom, left to right.
- Horizontal strokes before crossing vertical ones (十 = horizontal, then vertical).
- Outside before inside - but close a box last (口).
- A vertical that passes all the way through comes last (中).
- Left-falling diagonal before right-falling (大).
生 is taught on day 21 of the kanji course, alongside 私 先, with two writing passes and a short quiz.