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Kanji Detail for 身 - "body, self"

身

  • Meaning

    身 means "body, self." Also associated with status.

    1. Body - The physical form.

    2. Self - One's own person.

    3. Status - Social standing; position.

  • Words using 身

    • 出身 しゅっしん Listen one's origin (e.g. city, country, parentage, school)
    • 自身 じしん Listen (one's) self; oneself; yourself
    • 中身 なかみ Listen contents; interior; filling
    • 全身 ぜんしん Listen whole (body); full-length (e.g. portrait); systemic
    • 身長 しんちょう Listen height (of a person); stature
    • 単身 たんしん Listen alone; by oneself; unaccompanied
    • 出身者 しゅっしんしゃ Listen alumnus (alumnae); graduate; old boy (girl)
    • 独身 どくしん Listen unmarried; single

  • Four-character idioms with 身

    • 全身全霊 ぜんしんぜんれい Listen complete devotion; body and soul; one's best
    • 半身不随 はんしんふずい Listen hemiplegia (paralysis on one side of the body)
    • 立身出世 りっしんしゅっせ Listen success in life
    • 不惜身命 ふしゃくしんみょう Listen devoting one's body and soul to Buddhist teachings; unsparing devotion to Buddhism
    • 人身攻撃 じんしんこうげき Listen personal attack; ad hominem attack
    • 低頭平身 ていとうへいしん Listen prostrating oneself

  • Origin of 身

    A pictograph of a torso in profile with a rounded belly — by most accounts a pregnant body: the self drawn as life carried. 身 is the body as lived in, not examined.

    How to remember it: A body in profile, belly full — yourself, carrying yourself.

    Sources: en.wiktionary.org · mojinavi.com

  • Tattoo check: 身

    • Verified meaning: body, self
    • Official Jōyō kanji — a standard character every Japanese reader recognises
    • Used in real Japanese given names (read みさき)
    • Also carries these associations: status

    A single kanji rarely maps one-to-one onto an English word. Read the meanings and associations above as a set — a character that fits the dictionary definition can still carry a connotation you did not intend.

  • Name readings of 身

    Surnames 身(みさき)Listen

  • Dictionary Citations

    The meaning above is based on the following sources:

    KANJIDIC2 A comprehensive Japanese-English kanji dictionary

    somebody; person; one's station in life

    Unihan Unicode Han Database for CJK characters

    body; trunk, hull; Kangxi radical 158

    CC-CEDICT A Chinese-English dictionary

    body; life; oneself; personally; one's morality and conduct; the main part of a structure or body; pregnant; classifier for sets of clothes: suit, twinset; Kangxi radical 158

    Make Me a Hanzi Open-source Chinese character data

    body, torso; person; pregnancy

    XSZD Xuéshēng Zìdiǎn (學生字典) - Student's Dictionary

    The general term for the whole body. Sometimes distinguished from the head. Such as when someone is killed, it is said 身首異處 (body and head in different places). | Self-reference. Such as saying 致身青雲 (attaining high position). During the Wei and Jin dynasties and the Six Dynasties, people often called themselves 身. Today it is occasionally used in letters. | Being pregnant is called 身. "Book of Odes" says "Da Ren was pregnant." | Volume or body. Such as 河身 (river bed), 船身 (hull of a ship). | 身毒. An ancient country name. That is, Tianzhu. Today's India. Read as 捐篤.

  • Onyomi

    tip

    shin(シン) シン

  • Kunyomi

    tip

    mi(み) み

  • Strokes

    tip

    7 strokes

  • Radical

    tip

    身 (mi・mihen)

  • Related Keywords

    body self status center meat pregnancy anatomy corporeal embodiment figure flesh identity individual person physical physique position presence social standing stature

Sentences including 身

  • It's a cinch to learn to swim.

  • English is difficult to learn.

  • How tall is he?

  • He is in bonds.

  • It is beginning to tell on him.

  • Being only a student , i can't afford to get married.

  • How tall is he?

  • He is as tall as my father.

  • He is from this town.

  • Put your heart into your business.

Sentences from Japanese classical masterpieces

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