身 (shēn): body; torso

Meanings

1 body; torso
2 life; oneself; personally
3 one's social status

Examples

HSK 2

身体健康最重要。

Shēntǐ jiànkāng zuì zhòngyào.

Good health is the most important thing.

HSK 3

请带好身份证。

Qǐng dài hǎo shēnfènzhèng.

Please bring your ID card.

HSK 3

他亲身经历了这件事。

Tā qīnshēn jīnglì le zhè jiàn shì.

He experienced this personally.

Tips

usage

身 is used in: 身体 (body), 身份 (identity), 身边 (beside/around oneself), 自身 (oneself), 身高 (height), 全身 (whole body). 身份证 (ID card) is essential in China.

Components

pictograph

身 shēn

body; self

Pictograph of a human silhouette in profile, with the belly markedly bulging - most likely a pregnant figure in the bronze-script source. The 'body, self, person' meanings generalised from this whole-body image. The seven strokes form a unitary body silhouette and don't decompose into productive sub-pieces. As Kangxi radical #158 it indexes a small body-anatomy family: 躬 (bow), 躯 (frame), 躲 (hide).

Radical

Body Kangxi #158

The body radical. A bronze-script pictograph of a human silhouette with the belly emphasized - originally a side view of a pregnant figure, generalized to 'body' and 'self'. Low productivity as an indexing slot (躬 'bow', 躯 'physical body', 躲 'hide' are typical residents). Far more common as a free morpheme.