shěn
verb HSK 7-9 #5,935

Meanings

  1. 1 to examine; to investigate
  2. 2 to try (a legal case)

Examples

HSK 7-9
Fǎyuàn zhèngzài shěnlǐ zhège ànjiàn.
The court is trying this case.
HSK 7-9
Zhè fèn wénjiàn xūyào shěnhé.
This document needs to be reviewed.

Tips

usage
appears in 审查 (to review), 审判 (to put on trial), 审核 (to audit/verify), and 审美 (aesthetic sense).

Components

radical
mián
roof; house (radical form)
Top is the roof radical - a peaked roof with two side walls dropping down, picturing a covered building. Anchors as something done indoors: the original sense was 'to scrutinise, to examine carefully under shelter', a magistrate hearing testimony in a covered hall. Same radical family: home, peace, room, character, palace.
phonetic
shēn
to state; 9th earthly branch (here phonetic)
Bottom supplies the sound - shēn shifting to shěn (only tone shifts). itself depicts a lightning bolt branching outward and means 'to extend, to state explicitly'. There is a faint semantic boost: examining a case under a roof while parties shēn 'state' their testimony. Same phonetic family: to extend, spirit, gentry.

Stroke Order

shěn