身 (shēn): body; torso

Meanings

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

Examples

身体健康最重要。

Shēntǐ jiànkāng zuì zhòngyào.

Good health is the most important thing.

请带好身份证。

Qǐng dài hǎo shēnfènzhèng.

Please bring your ID card.

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.