生

1. Biological/Existential: Life, the state of being alive, or a lifetime. As a verb, it refers to being born, giving birth, growing/sprouting (organic development), or engendering/producing (generative principles in cosmological contexts).

2. Qualitative/Material: Raw or uncooked (food); unrefined or natural (materials such as silk or minerals); inexperienced or naive (people).

The glyph frequently alternates between intransitive ("to be born") and transitive ("to produce"). When followed by a noun, the translator should determine if the subject is the source of the object or is entering a state in relation to that noun.

Meaning is often determined by contrast:

• Contrast with 死 (death) indicates the axis of life, birth, or generation.
• Contrast with 熟 (cooked/ripe/mature) indicates the axis of raw, unrefined, or naive.

The "growth" metaphor extended in later usage to describe those in a state of learning (e.g., 學生). This professional or social categorization is generally not present in very early passages.

Identify which semantic axis (Biological vs. Qualitative) is active before assigning a specific meaning. When evaluating transitivity, distinguish whether the subject is acting as a generative source or undergoing a process of coming into being.