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適者生存 (てきしゃせいぞん) Japanese meaning | Kotomora

適てき者しゃ生せい存ぞん

て

き

しゃ

せ

い

ぞ

ん

Freq.FrequencyTop 100,000

Meanings

1

noun

survival of the fittest

yojijukugo (four-character idiom)

A yojijukugo used in biology, sociology, and business to describe natural selection or competitive survival.

自し然ぜん界かいでは適てき者しゃ生せい存ぞんの原げん理りが働はたらいている。
In nature, the principle of survival of the fittest is at work.

ビジネス

の

世せ

界かい

も

適てき

者しゃ

生せい

存ぞん

だ

。

The business world is also survival of the fittest.

Kanji

適suitable, occasional, rare
者someone, person
生life, genuine, birth
存exist, suppose, be aware of

Similar words

自し然ぜん淘とう汰た
自然淘汰 is the biological term 'natural selection', while 適者生存 is the resulting concept 'survival of the fittest'.

Etymology

A yojijukugo coined in the Meiji period as a translation of Herbert Spencer's phrase 'survival of the fittest', composed of 適者 (the fittest) and 生存 (survival).