怎生

Chinese

		how	to be born; to give birth; life to be born; to give birth; life; to grow; student; raw
simp. and trad. (怎生)		怎	生

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): zěnshēng

  (Zhuyin): ㄗㄣˇ ㄕㄥ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): zam² sang¹

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: zěnshēng
    • Zhuyin: ㄗㄣˇ ㄕㄥ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: zěnsheng
    • Wade–Giles: tsên³-shêng¹
    • Yale: dzěn-shēng
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: tzeensheng
    • Palladius: цзэньшэн (czɛnʹšɛn)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sən²¹⁴⁻²¹ ʂɤŋ⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: zam² sang¹
    • Yale: jám sāng
    • Cantonese Pinyin: dzam² sang¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: zem² seng¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡sɐm³⁵ sɐŋ⁵⁵/

Adverb

怎生 (obsolete)

1. how

   • 守著窗兒，獨自怎生得黑？ [Ci, trad.]
     守着窗儿，独自怎生得黑？ [Ci, simp.]

     From: Song Dynasty, Li Qingzhao, 《聲聲慢》

     Shǒu zhe chuāng'ér, dúzì zěnshēng dé hēi? [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   • 孩兒，你教我怎生說波！ [Written Vernacular Chinese, trad.]
     孩儿，你教我怎生说波！ [Written Vernacular Chinese, simp.]

     From: Yuan Dynasty, Guan Hanqing, The Injustice to Dou E

     Hái'ér, nǐ jiào wǒ zěnshēng shuō bō! [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

2. why

   • 婆婆索錢去了，怎生這早晚不見回來？ [Written Vernacular Chinese, trad.]
     婆婆索钱去了，怎生这早晚不见回来？ [Written Vernacular Chinese, simp.]

     From: Yuan Dynasty, Guan Hanqing, The Injustice to Dou E

     Pópó suǒqián qù le, zěnshēng zhè zǎowǎn bùjiàn huílái? [Pinyin]

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

3. no matter what; must

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 怎麼 (“how”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Classical Chinese		何, 如何
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		怎麼
Mandarin	Beijing	怎麼
	Taiwan	怎麼
	Jinan	怎麼
	Xi'an	咋, 咋樣兒
	Wuhan	麼, 麼樣, 哪樣
	Chengdu	咋, 咋個, 啷個
	Chongqing	啷個
	Yangzhou	井幹
	Hefei	怎樣, 怎
	Singapore	怎麼
	Sokuluk (Gansu Dungan)	咋, 咋的個, 咋麼, 咋麼個
Cantonese	Guangzhou	點, 點樣
	Hong Kong	點, 點樣
	Taishan	幾何
	Kuala Lumpur (Guangfu)	點
	Singapore (Guangfu)	點
Gan	Nanchang	啷, 啷樣
Hakka	Meixian	仰般, 仰仔
	Wuhua (Meilin)	仰般
	Heyuan (Bendihua)	仰來
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	仰般, 仰仔
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	仰仔
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	仰般
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	仰脣, 仰
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	仰般, 仰般形
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	仰子
Huizhou	Jixi	采翹
Jin	Taiyuan	咋, 咋底
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	怎怎, 怎, 怎其
	Fuqing	安難, 怎生
	Singapore (Fuqing)	安難
Southern Min	Xiamen	按怎, 怎影
	Taipei	按怎
	Penang (Hokkien)	按怎
	Singapore (Hokkien)	按怎
	Manila (Hokkien)	障仔, 按怎, 怎
	Chaozhou	在生, 乜生, 做呢, 做物
	Raoping	做呢
	Shantou	做呢
	Jieyang	做呢
	Haifeng	做呢
	Singapore (Teochew)	做呢, 做物
	Batam (Teochew)	做呢物, 做物
	Wenchang	怎作, 作乜
	Haikou	咋作
	Singapore (Hainanese)	怎作
Wu	Shanghai	哪能
	Suzhou	捺亨
	Ningbo	咋, 咋貌, 咋貌介
	Wenzhou	訾那, 訾那能
Xiang	Changsha	何什, 何裡
	Shuangfeng	麼家