生

It represents the concepts of birth, growth, and existence. Its meanings include "to be born," "to give birth," "to live," and it also means "student."

It depicts the image of grass sprouting from the ground. The current form consists of two lines added above the 土 (earth) character, though in oracle bone script these two characters were clearly distinct.

In summary, 生 symbolizes sprouting or growth from the earth, with a rich variety of related meanings and some regional variation in writing.

In Korea, China, and Taiwan, the third stroke is a horizontal middle line and the fourth stroke is a vertical downward stroke; in Japan, these two strokes are reversed. The usual stroke order is ↙ → → ↓ →, while the Japanese stroke order is ↙ → ↓ → →, similar to the cursive style.