性命 xìngmìng life
How to remember 性命: 性 nature + 命 life = life.
Characters
How it is used
- Life in the sense of a living being's survival - the life you can lose - 拼了性命 (pīnle xìngmìng) risking one's life, 性命攸关 (xìngmìng yōuguān) a matter of life and death.
- Distinct from 生命 (shēngmìng), which is broader and more abstract ("life" as a phenomenon, the value of life); 性命 is concrete: your neck, your survival, often in danger.
- Habitually appears where death is a real threat: 保住性命 (bǎozhù xìngmìng) to keep one's life.
Example sentences
- 事故差点让他丢了性命。 Shìgù chàdiǎn ràng tā diū le xìngmìng.The accident almost cost him his life.