鲜血

• Pinyin: xiān xuè
• Hanzi breakdown: 鲜 = 鱼 + 羊 (fresh); 血 = 皿 + 一 (vessel + liquid — blood)

Meaning

Fresh blood; blood. Refers to blood, especially when visibly shed — in the context of injury, sacrifice, or battle. Carries a strong emotive and often literary or solemn register.

Unlike 血液 (blood as a medical or biological substance), 鲜血 emphasises the visual and physical reality of blood being shed. Commonly appears in historical, military, and literary contexts to invoke sacrifice, heroism, or the cost of struggle. In contemporary usage, it can describe injury scenes or be used rhetorically to underscore the gravity of a cause.

Examples

1. 战场上的士兵用鲜血和生命捍卫了家园，这段历史值得每一个后人铭记。 Soldiers on the battlefield defended their homeland with their blood and their lives; this history deserves to be remembered by future generations.
2. 她跌倒后膝盖上渗出了鲜血，旁边的人立刻拿出急救包进行简单处理。 After she fell, fresh blood seeped from her knee, and someone nearby immediately took out a first-aid kit to treat it.
3. 这座城市的独立是无数先辈以鲜血为代价换来的，这份沉重的历史不应被轻易遗忘。 This city’s independence was won at the cost of countless predecessors’ blood, and this heavy history should not be easily forgotten.

Usage Guide

Context: history, literature, medicine, war

Tone: solemn

Do Say

• 博物馆通过实物、档案和再现，让参观者感受先辈以鲜血和信念开创民族解放新纪元。(Through artifacts, archives, and reenactments, the museum lets visitors feel how the forebears opened a new era of national liberation with blood and conviction.)
• 手术记录中对鲜血渗出量的精确记载，是评估出血风险和制定输血方案的重要依据。(Accurate records of fresh blood seepage in surgical notes are an important basis for assessing bleeding risk and making transfusion plans.)

Don't Say

• 鲜血 in neutral medical or scientific writing about blood as a biological substance — use 血液 for clinical and technical contexts; 鲜血 carries emotive and literary weight that is inappropriate in detached scientific discourse

Origin & History

鲜 (fresh, vivid) + 血 (blood — 皿 + 一, a vessel containing liquid — blood in a container)

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal