世 (shì): life, age, generation, era, world, lifetime
世 (shì) is a Chinese character meaning “life.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 廿 (structural). It ranks #181 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically pictographic, 世 three leaves on a branch. Its radical form 一 (one) appears in many related characters such as 一 (yī, one), 七 (qī, seven), 三 (sān, three).
Definitions
- life
- age
- generation
- era
- world
- lifetime
Etymology & Origin
pictographicThree leaves on a branch
Stroke Order
Practice writing 世 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 世
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 世上noun | shì shàng | on earth |
| 全世界adjective | quán shì jiè | worldwide |
| 过世verb | guò shì | to die |
| 救世主noun | jiù shì zhǔ | the Savior (in Christianity) |
| 世人noun | shì rén | people (in general) |
| 世间noun | shì jiān | world |
| 世事noun | shì shì | affairs of life |
| 中世纪noun | zhōng shì jì | medieval |
| 人世noun | rén shì | the world |
| 世界大战 | shì jiè dà zhàn | world war |
| 愤世嫉俗phrase | fèn shì jí sú | to be cynical |
| 在世verb | zài shì | to be alive |
| 出世verb | chū shì | to be born |
| 世道noun | shì dào | the ways of the world |
| 苏黎世proper-noun | sū lí shì | Zurich, Switzerland |
世 appears in 116 compound words: 38 as the first character, 53 as the last, and 9 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 世 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (48)
(idiom) to consider oneself unexcelled in the world; to be insufferably arrogant
Showing 12 of 48 idioms containing 世.
Example Sentences
世界各地的人们都在努力保护环境，应对气候变化。
Shìjiè gèdì de rénmen dōu zài nǔlì bǎohù huánjìng, yìngduì qìhòu biànhuà.
People around the world are working hard to protect the environment and address climate change.
...UNA SEA官方公布鼓手真矢不敌病情离世 享年56岁
. . . U N A S E A guān fāng gōng bù gǔ shǒu zhēn shǐ bù dí bìng qíng lí shì xiǎng nián 5 6 suì
... UNA SEA officially announced that drummer Maya passed away at the age of 56
上观时评|“马上”体祝福里的民生期盼·新世说
shàng guàn shí píng mǎ shàng tǐ zhù fú lǐ de mín shēng qī pàn xīn shì shuō
Shangguan Commentary|" Immediately, "the people's livelihood expectations in the blessing of the new world said
3000株蝴蝶兰凑在一起干什么?世界花卉大观园新春..
zhū 蝴 蝶 lán còu zài yī qǐ gān shén má ? shì jiè huā huì dà guàn yuán xīn chūn . .
What are 3,000 Phalaenopsis orchids doing together? World Flower Garden New Year...
2026年世界知识产权报告:创新传播速度达历史新高
nián shì jiè zhī shí chǎn quán bào gào chuàng xīn chuán bō sù dù dá lì shǐ xīn gāo
2026 World Intellectual Property Report: Innovation Dissemination Reaches Historic High
这个世界是灿烂的吗？
Zhège shìjiè shì cànlàn de ma?
Is it splendid, this world?
她在睡眠中安详地去世了。
Tā zài shuìmián zhōng ānxiáng de qùshì le.
She passed away peacefully in her sleep.
在我看来，澳洲是世界上最好的国家之一。
Zàiwǒkànlái, àozhōu shì shìjiè shàng zuì hǎo de guójiā zhīyī.
In my opinion, Australia is one of the best countries in the world.
世界人口有上升的趋势。
Shìjiè rénkǒu yǒu shàngshēng de qūshì.
The world's population tends to increase.
丈夫去世时她十分绝望。
Zhàngfu qùshì shí tā shífēn juéwàng.
She was in despair when her husband died.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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