上辈子

上輩子
shàngbèizi
noun #27,195

Meanings

  1. 1 previous life
  2. 2 past incarnation
  3. 3 ancestors; past generations

Examples

Nǐ shàngbèizi yīdìng zuò le hǎo shì, zhè bèizi cái zhème xìngyùn.
You must have done good deeds in your past life to be so lucky in this one.
Tāmen liǎng gè hǎoxiàng shàngbèizi jiù rènshi.
Those two seem like they knew each other in a past life.

Tips

culture
上辈子 reflects the Buddhist concept of reincarnation, widely woven into Chinese folk belief. It is commonly used in everyday speech to explain remarkable fate or relationships, e.g. '上辈子缘分' (a bond from a past life).
usage
上辈子 can also mean 'ancestors' or 'past generations' in non-spiritual contexts, though the reincarnation sense is more common in modern usage.

Stroke Order

shàng
bèi