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人生一世，草木一春

rén shēng yī shì , cǎo mù yī chūndictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
Man has but one life, grass but one spring (idiom). fig. the brevity of human existence
Sources & editorial notes

Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.

Source record: cd-d8ba6e209560603e. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

人生一世，草木一春 人生一世，草木一春 [ren2 sheng1 yi1 shi4 , cao3 mu4 yi1 chun1] /Man has but one life, grass but one spring (idiom). fig. the brevity of human existence/

Reference definitions and teaching material have separate provenance.

Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

Character information

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

  • 人
  • 生
    shēng

    to grow / to give birth / to produce / to be born / to arise / to occur / to light (a fire) / to live / to be alive / life / raw / uncooked / unprocessed / unfamiliar / strange / (bound form) student / person engaged in a field / (bound form) male role in traditional opera / (bound form) life / lifetime / (bound form) means of livelihood / (bound form) very / intensely (as in 生疼[shēng téng]) / (bound form) in a forced manner (as in 生拉硬拽[shēng lā yìng zhuài])

  • 一
    yī

    one / single / a (article) / as soon as / entire / whole / all / throughout / "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1) / also pr. [yāo] for greater clarity when spelling out numbers digit by digit

  • 世
    shì

    life / age / generation / era / world / lifetime / epoch / descendant / noble

    Shì

    surname Shi

  • 草
    cǎo

    grass / straw / manuscript / draft (of a document) / careless / rough / CL:棵[kē],撮[zuǒ],株[zhū],根[gēn]

    cào

    See the full entry for source details.

  • 木
    mù

    (bound form) tree / (bound form) wood / unresponsive / numb / wooden

    Mù

    surname Mu

  • 一
    yī

    one / single / a (article) / as soon as / entire / whole / all / throughout / "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1) / also pr. [yāo] for greater clarity when spelling out numbers digit by digit

  • 春
    chūn

    spring (season) / gay / joyful / youthful / love / lust / life

    Chūn

    surname Chun

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.