让我们生气对身体有什么影响

What does “生气” literally mean in Chinese?

生气 (shēngqì), “to get angry,” is literally “to generate qi” — 生 (produce) + 气 (breath, air, vital energy). It’s the same 气 as in qigong, and the picture is anger as energy surging up inside you. A clip about what anger does to your body could not have picked a better word: in traditional Chinese medicine, anger really is described as qi rising and harming the liver.

气 is one of Chinese’s busiest characters: 空气 (air), 天气 (weather), 力气 (physical strength), and the wonderfully dramatic 气死我了 — “I’m angered to death.” The flip side: read as a noun, 生气 can also mean “vitality,” as in 生气勃勃, “bursting with life” — the same two characters, generating energy for better or worse.