生涯

• Pinyin: shēng yá
• Hanzi breakdown: 生 = 土 + 屮 (life); 涯 = 氵+ 厂 + 圭 (shore, boundary, extent)

Meaning

Career; a profession or life pursuit pursued over a long period; the course of one's professional or life journey.

Conveys a sense of sustained dedication to a vocation or life path, often across many years. Appears in compounds like 职业生涯 (professional career), 演艺生涯 (entertainment career), 军旅生涯 (military career). More literary and formal than 职业 alone.

Examples

1. 他将自己三十年的教学生涯奉献给了偏远山区的基础教育事业。 He devoted thirty years of his teaching career to basic education in remote mountain regions.
2. 这位运动员在职业生涯的巅峰时期连续赢得三届世界冠军，创造了历史。 At the peak of his career, the athlete won three consecutive world championships, making history.
3. 回顾漫长的学术生涯，她最引以为傲的是培养了一批卓越的青年学者。 Looking back on her long academic career, what she’s most proud of is having trained a group of outstanding young scholars.

Usage Guide

Context: biography, sports, arts, academia, military

Tone: respectful

Do Say

• 她的演艺生涯横跨四十年，从青涩的舞台新人成长为享誉国际的戏剧艺术家。(Her performing arts career spanned forty years, evolving from a raw stage newcomer into an internationally acclaimed theatre artist.)
• 结束了长达二十五年的外交生涯后，他选择回到故乡，投身乡村振兴工作。(After ending a diplomatic career spanning twenty-five years, he chose to return to his hometown and devote himself to rural revitalisation.)

Don't Say

• 生涯 for very short-term work experience or a single project — 生涯 implies a sustained, long-term professional pursuit; use 经历 or 项目 for brief engagements

Origin & History

生 (life) + 涯 (shore, boundary; by extension: the course or span of something)

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal