做生意
zuòshēngyì · HSK 7
to do business
💰🤝 做生意 = 做 do + 生意 business (生 grow + 意 intention) = do business, trade
做 means to do or make; 生意 is the noun business, built from 生 grow and 意 intention. Doing the grow-intention is running a trade. Tone path: zuò falls, shēng stays high and flat, yì falls again.
做 — person 亻 + make 故
做 is a later vernacular variant of 作 (to make/do), formed with the person radical 亻 for human action and 故 as a phonetic component. It emerged in medieval Chinese to handle everyday senses like 'do, make, act as,' while 作 kept more literary uses. Today both share meanings but 做 dominates colloquial speech.
生 — sprout 屮 above earth 土
Originally a pictograph showing a young plant sprouting from the ground, with 屮 (a sprout) above 土 (earth). The core meaning is 'to be born, to grow, to live,' which extends to 'raw, unripe, unfamiliar.' The modern form has simplified the sprout shape but preserves the image of new growth emerging from soil.