生涯 shēngyá career
career; life (way in which somebody lives); period of one's life
How to remember 生涯: 生 life + 涯 horizon = career.
Characters
How it is used
- A career or a defined stretch of one's life - 职业生涯 (zhíyè shēngyá) one's professional career; 演艺生涯 (an acting career).
- Refers to a whole phase/pursuit, not a single job; 教书生涯 = one's years spent teaching.
- More literary than 事业 (shìyè, one's cause/undertaking); 生涯 frames it as a lived span of experience.