生物 (shēng wù)

Character breakdown

• 生 (shēng) · 5 strokes

  Pictograph of a sprout (屮) emerging from the ground (一).

• 物 (wù) · 8 strokes

  Phonosemantic compound. 牛 represents the meaning and 勿 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "variety", depicting the variety of colors on a cow. Later the meaning shifted to "things".