1.
inanimate object; non-living thing
石は無生物である。
A stone is an inanimate object.
無生物主語の文は英語に多い。
Sentences with inanimate subjects are common in English.
生物と無生物の境界はウイルスのように曖昧な場合もある。
The boundary between living and non-living things can be ambiguous, as in the case of viruses.
Composed of 無 (without, non-) + 生物 (living thing). Used in science, philosophy, and language education.
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 無生物主語: inanimate subject (grammar term, important in Japanese-English translation studies)
- 無生物の世界: the inanimate world
- 生物と無生物: living and non-living things
LANGUAGE NOTE:
The term 無生物主語 is particularly important for Japanese learners of English, since English frequently uses inanimate subjects in active sentences (e.g., "The storm destroyed the town") while Japanese tends to rephrase such sentences with human agents or passive constructions.
SIMILAR WORDS:
- 生物: living thing — the antonym
- 物体: physical object, body — refers to any material object regardless of whether it is alive