生老病死

1. • to be born, to grow old, to get sick and to die (idiom)

     lit.

2. • the fate of humankind (i.e. mortality)

     fig.

Character by character

• 生(shēng)grow
• 老(lǎo)prefix used before the surname of a person or a numeral indicating the order of birth of the children in a family or to indicate affection or familiarity
• 病(bìng)illness
• 死(sǐ)die