伸 (shēn) · to stretch, to extend, to reach out

Meanings

1 to stretch
2 to extend
3 to reach out

Characters

伸

shēn

to stretch; to extend; to straighten

Examples

HSK 5

他伸出手来和我握手。

Tā shēnchū shǒu lái hé wǒ wòshǒu.

He reached out his hand to shake hands with me.

HSK 5

起床后先伸个懒腰。

Qǐchuáng hòu xiān shēn gè lǎnyāo.

After getting up, stretch first.

HSK 7-9

小猫伸出了爪子。

Xiǎo māo shēnchū le zhǎozi.

The kitten extended its claws.

Tips

usage

伸手 = reach out a hand. 伸懒腰 = stretch (after waking). 伸展 = to stretch/extend.

mistakes

Don't confuse 伸 (to extend) with 申 (to state/apply). Same pronunciation but different characters and meanings.

Components

radical

亻 rén

person (left-side form of 人)

Left-side 亻 is the standing-person radical, the compressed form of 人. It marks 伸 as something a person does with the body - stretching, extending, reaching out. Same family as 体, 休, 你, 他.

phonetic

申 shēn

to state; extend

Right-side 申 gives both the sound (shēn → shēn, no shift) and faint semantic flavour: 申 originally pictured a lightning bolt extending across the sky, and its later sense 'to state' implies extending speech outward. The body-extension meaning of 伸 grew from that stretching image.