适者生存

適者生存

shìzhě-shēngcún

idiom #20,741

Meanings

1 survival of the fittest
2 only the fit survive

Characters

one who / the one that

to exist / to survive

Examples

HSK 6

大自然的规律是适者生存，不适者淘汰。

Dàzìrán de guīlǜ shì shìzhě-shēngcún, búshì zhě táotài.

Nature's law is survival of the fittest - those unfit are weeded out.

HSK 7-9

在市场竞争中，适者生存是不变的法则。

Zài shìchǎng jìngzhēng zhōng, shìzhě-shēngcún shì búbiàn de fǎzé.

In market competition, survival of the fittest is an unchanging rule.

Tips

history

This phrase was coined by scholar 严复 in his 1898 Chinese translation of Thomas Huxley's 'Evolution and Ethics' (天演论). Yan Fu rendered Herbert Spencer's concept 'survival of the fittest' as 适者生存, introducing Darwinian ideas to Chinese intellectual discourse.

Stroke Order

适 shì

者 zhě

生 shēng

存 cún