population; household members
Tone colorsmāmámǎmàma
Meanings
1 sense · 3 examplesnoun
population; number of household members (originally referring to children who had grown milk teeth and were registered in ancient household records)
literaryOriginally referred to the ancient practice of registering children in household records once they had grown milk teeth (around 7-8 years old). Now used in literary contexts to mean population.
shēng生
chǐ齿
rì日
fán繁
The population grows day by day.
cǐ此
dì地
shēng生
chǐ齿
jiàn渐
zēng增
，
shì市
jí集
yě也
rì日
jiàn渐
rè热
nao闹
。
The population here is gradually increasing, and the market is becoming livelier by the day.
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gǔ古
dài代
shēng生
chǐ齿
dēng登
yú于
cè册
，
fāng方
kě可
nà纳
fù赋
fú服
yì役
。
In ancient times, only those who had grown teeth were registered in the records and could pay taxes and perform corvée labor.