To Give Birth
To Produce
transitive verb, godan verb
This word consists of kanji with hiragana attached. Because the hiragana ends with an う sound, you know this word is a verb. The kanji itself means "life" so what is the verb form of that? Would it be "to do life"? No, probably not. In this case it is to give birth, or to produce.
You'll have to differentiate this one from the word 生まれる as well. Just remember that when you give birth, you're the one who has to actually move (む) your body by finding the right position and pushing with every ounce of strength you can muster. In contrast, when you're being born, you can just kind of lie there and enjoy the ride.
You have to remember the う part of this word to be able to read it. You already learned this reading with 生まれる, but here's a mnemonic for you just in case you forgot:
Imagine yourself giving birth, but not to a baby. Instead, it's an uni (う) you're delivering. Luckily, uni aren't fully formed with their spikes at birth so it shouldn't be a problem. Ooof! What a relief!
子を生む
to give birth to a child
赤ちゃんを生む
to give birth to a baby
子犬を生む
to give birth to a puppy
自分が生む
I will give birth
社会が生む
society produces
メスが生む
the females give birth
一人で生む
to give birth alone
自分で生む
to give birth by oneself
山で生む
to give birth in the mountains
お金は不正を生む。
Money breeds fraud.
このレストランのオーナーが、日本のイタリアンの人気を生んだシェフです。
The owner of this restaurant is the chef who made Italian cuisine popular in Japan.
主人の子ではなかったが、生むしかなかった。
Even though it wasn't my husband's, I had no choice but to give birth to the baby.