身

Translingual

Stroke order

Stroke order

Han character

See images of
Radical 158 身

身 (Kangxi radical 158, 身+0, 7 strokes, cangjie input 竹難竹 (HXH), four-corner 2740₀)

1. Kangxi radical #158, ⾝.

Derived characters

• Appendix:Chinese radical/身
• 㑗, 𠗏, 𠲳, 𡌏, 㛛, 㧶, 𨓉, 𮀝, 竧, 裑, 𫊾, 𬢭, 𧼅, 𨌈(𫐍), 銵, 𩫙, 鯓
• 𭄨, 射, 𦎒, 鵢, 𬼧, 𡘪, 䆤, 𢈯, 𤶴

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1237, character 1
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 38034
• Dae Jaweon: page 1709, character 36
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 6, page 3807, character 1
• Unihan data for U+8EAB

Chinese

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 身
Shang	Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Pictogram (象形) : from a pictograph of a pregnant woman.

Etymology 1

STEDT relates it to Proto-Sino-Tibetan *sja-n ~ *sin (“flesh; animal; body”), but recent Old Chinese reconstructions would not support this etymology.

Because 身 is used as a phonetic for 仁 (OC *niŋ) in excavated texts, Baxter and Sagart (2012, 2014) reconstruct the initial as nasal. This would allow for a comparison to Tibetan སྙིང (snying, “heart”), Japhug tɯsni (“heart”) (Baxter and Sagart, 2012; Zhang, Jacques and Lai, 2019), which are from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s/k-n(j)i-k/ŋ (“heart; mind; brain”).

Pronunciation

Definitions

身

1. (anatomy) body
2. (figurative) body; main part
3. pregnancy
4. oneself
5. in person; personally
6. I; me

   • 飛據水斷橋，瞋目橫矛曰：「身是張益德也，可來共決死！」敵皆無敢近者……。 [Literary Chinese, trad.]
     飞据水断桥，瞋目横矛曰：「身是张益德也，可来共决死！」敌皆无敢近者……。 [Literary Chinese, simp.]

     From: Chen Shou, Records of the Three Kingdoms, circa 3^rd century CE

     Fēi jù shuǐ duàn qiáo, chēnmù héngmáo yuē: “Shēn shì Zhāng Yìdé yě, kě lái gòng juésǐ!” Dí jiē wú gǎn jìn zhě.......

     Fei seized the river and destroyed the bridge; he glared angrily with widened eyes, brandished his spear, then declared: "I am Zhang Yide! Come fight me to the death anyone who can!" Of all enemies, none dared approach .

7. life; one's (entire) life
8. social status
9. moral character
10. Classifier for suits of clothes.
11. (literary or Southern Min, Puxian Min) Classifier for statues, dolls, puppets.
12. (Southern Min) Classifier for silkworms.
13. (Cantonese, idiomatic) Classifier for beatings.

Synonyms

Descendants

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

Definitions

身

1. Only used in 身毒 (Juāndú).

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 3 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. body

   Synonym: 体

2. identity

Readings

• Go-on: しん (shin, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: しん (shin, Jōyō)
• Kun: み (mi, 身, Jōyō); む (mu, 身); むくろ (mukuro, 身)

Compounds

Etymology 1

From Old Japanese, from Proto-Japonic *muy. Cognate with 実 (mi, “seed, fruit, offspring”).

Standalone form of mu below. See also the etymology of 神 (kami, kamu).

Compare Korean 몸 (mom, “body”).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) み (Heiban – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

身(み) • (mi) 

1. a body; (by extension):
   1. the main part of something
      1. the blade of a sword (as opposed to the handle)
      2. meat, flesh (as opposed to skin and bone)
      3. wood (as opposed to the bark)
   2. oneself
   3. one's position, one's social standing, one's circumstances

Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Old Japanese. Bound form of mi above, only found in compounds.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

身(む) • (mu) 

1. (only in compounds) a body

Derived terms

Etymology 3

From Old Japanese. Compound of 身 (mu, “body”, bound form of standalone mi) +‎ くろ (kuro). The derivation of the kuro element is uncertain, but it might be an alteration or ancient form of 幹 (kara, “trunk, main part”).

Alternative forms

• 躯, 骸

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) むくろ (Heiban – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

身(むくろ) • (mukuro) 

1. a living body
   • 720, 日本書紀 (Nihon Shoki, “Chronicles of Japan”), Volume 7, in the section on 景行天皇 (Keikō-tennō, Emperor Keikō):

     身體長大

     人(ひと)となり、むくろ長(たか)く大(おお)きにして

     hitotonari, mukuro takaku ōki ni shite

     His personality and body were lofty and great

2. a dead body, a corpse
   • 14th century, 太平記 (Taiheiki):

     御首(おんくび)は敷皮(しきかは)の上(うえ)に落(お)ちて質(むくろ)は尚(なほ)坐(ざ)せるが如(ごと)し

     onkubi wa shikikawa no ue ni ochite mukuro wa naozaseru ga gotoshi

     The head fell onto the hide rug, and the corpse looked as if it were sitting straight...

3. a rotten tree trunk

Derived terms

• 身(むくろ)籠(ごめ) (mukurogome), 躯(むくろ)籠(ごめ) (mukurogome): one's entire body

Etymology 4

From Middle Chinese 身 (syin, “body, self”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Noun

身(しん) • (shin) 

1. a body

Usage notes

Seldom used on its own. In isolation, the reading mi is much more common.

Derived terms

• 身(しん)体(たい) (shintai): a body, one's body

References

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 身 (MC syin). Recorded as Middle Korean 신 (sin) (Yale: sin) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

身

Wikisource

身 (eumhun 몸 신 (mom sin))

1. Hanja form^? of 신 (“body”).

Compounds

References

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

Vietnamese

Han character

身: Hán Nôm readings: thân

1. chữ Hán form of thân (“torso”).