一生懸命
いっしょうけんめい · isshoukenmei · JLPT N4 · adverb
very hard
💪 一生 (whole life) + 懸命 (staking your life) = effort as if life depends on it
一生 means one lifetime; 懸 is to hang or stake, 命 is life. Originally 一所懸命: samurai staking their lives on defending one plot of land. 所 (place) later shifted to 生 (life), and the sense widened to giving something your all.
一 — single horizontal stroke
一 is one of the simplest pictographs in Chinese, depicting a single horizontal line to represent the number one. It has retained essentially the same form since oracle bone script over 3,000 years ago. By extension it also means 'first,' 'whole,' or 'same.'
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.
命 — 亼 (gather) + 卩 (kneeling person) + 口 (mouth)
Originally depicted a kneeling figure receiving an oral command from above, combining 令 (order) with an added 口 (mouth) for emphasis. The image of authority issuing decrees extended from 'command' to 'mandate' and then 'destiny, life,' as one's fate was seen as decreed by Heaven.