shěn
verb HSK 7-9 #5,935

Meanings

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

Examples

Fǎyuàn zhèngzài shěnlǐ zhège ànjiàn.
The court is trying this case.
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