Chinese symbol for “generation”
一世
yī shì
generation; period of 30 years; one's whole lifetime; lifelong
The closest CC-CEDICT match for generation is 一世 (yī shì), defined as: generation; period of 30 years; one's whole lifetime; lifelong; age; era.
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Other Chinese words for “generation”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 一代 | yī dài | an era; an age; a generation |
| 代 | dài | to be a substitute for; to act on behalf of; to replace; to substitute; generation; dynasty; age; period; (historical) era; (geological) eon |
| 世 | shì | life; age |
| 曹 | cáo | class or grade; generation |
| 世代 | shì dài | for many generations; generation |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 一世.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 一个 (一個) | yī ge | a; an; one; the whole (afternoon, summer vacation etc) |
| 一些 | yī xiē | some; a few; a little; (following an adjective) slightly ...er |
| 一样 (一樣) | yī yàng | same; like |
| 一定 | yī dìng | surely; certainly; definitely; fixed; settled |
| 一起 | yī qǐ | (in) the same place; together; in company (with) |
| 一直 | yī zhí | straight (in a straight line); continuously; always; all the way through |
| 世界 | shì jiè | world |
| 世纪 (世紀) | shì jì | century |
See also: Japanese symbol for “generation”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.