生老病死

Chinese

		to be born; to give birth; life to be born; to give birth; life; to grow; student; raw	old; aged; venerable old; aged; venerable; outdated; experienced; (affectionate prefix)	ailment; illness; disease ailment; illness; disease; fall ill; sick; defect	to die; impassable; uncrossable to die; impassable; uncrossable; inflexible; rigid
trad. (生老病死)		生	老	病	死
simp. #(生老病死)		生	老	病	死

Etymology

From the four sights of human existence encountered by the young Buddha, which motivated his desire to end human suffering.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): shēnglǎobìngsǐ

  (Zhuyin): ㄕㄥ ㄌㄠˇ ㄅㄧㄥˋ ㄙˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): sang¹ lou⁵ beng⁶ sei²

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: shēnglǎobìngsǐ
    • Zhuyin: ㄕㄥ ㄌㄠˇ ㄅㄧㄥˋ ㄙˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: shenglǎobìngsǐh
    • Wade–Giles: shêng¹-lao³-ping⁴-ssŭ³
    • Yale: shēng-lǎu-bìng-sž
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: shenglaobinqsyy
    • Palladius: шэнлаобинсы (šɛnlaobinsy)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /ʂɤŋ⁵⁵ lɑʊ̯²¹⁴⁻²¹ piŋ⁵¹ sz̩²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: sang¹ lou⁵ beng⁶ sei²
    • Yale: sāng lóuh behng séi
    • Cantonese Pinyin: sang¹ lou⁵ beng⁶ sei²
    • Guangdong Romanization: seng¹ lou⁵ béng⁶ séi²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /sɐŋ⁵⁵ lou̯¹³ pɛːŋ²² sei̯³⁵/

Idiom

生老病死

1. (originally Buddhism) to be born, to get old, to become ill and to die; fate of humankind; mortality

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (生老病死):

• → Japanese: 生(しょう)老(ろう)病(びょう)死(し) (shōrōbyōshi)
• → Korean: 생로병사(生老病死) (saengnobyeongsa)
• → Vietnamese: sinh lão bệnh tử (生老病死)

See also

• Thai: เกิดแก่เจ็บตาย

Korean

Hanja in this term
生	老	病	死

Noun

生老病死 • (saengnobyeongsa) (hangeul 생로병사)

1. Hanja form^? of 생로병사 (“birth, old age, disease, and death”).