I see, thanks for the head's up! 生 has multiple meanings and mean all those things in different contexts in Chinese as well, so up till now I can still sort of hobble/struggle through Japanese kanji, and vaguely get the idea of a sentence through the kanji littered throughout, as well as certain hiragana words that I recognise.
Sadly, I know almost nothing about Chinese. Though I would like to know some Classical Chinese to be able to read poetry.
I checked my textbook and it says there are at least three ways how Japaneses adapted Chinese characters to their language:
1. Japanese word naturally match Chinese meaning, say, 山 (やま) and 石 (いし) mean
mountain and
stone respectively. These are safe.
2. Japanese word is depicted with Chinese phrase, say, 紅葉 (もみじ) means Japanese maple.
Aaand 3. Japanese word has no connection with Chinese meaning. Say, 供 (とも) means not
offer but
accompany. (It still may mean
offer when used in composite words as a Chinese word).
Also there are situations when one Chinese word and thereafter a character may be translated with several Japanese words. I think 生 is an example of it.
The opposite situations exist as well and then we come with several characters that have one and the same kunyomi and one and the same meaning in Japanese.
Hope it clears situation a bit. (Or messes it further, depending on perspective).
