Kanji Study

Bushu (Radical) Info: 身 (み) – station in life

Henshall Mnemonic: pregnant woman has conspicuous body

Levels: JLPT N2 | JLPT 2 (old) | Grade 3
Frequency: #320 of the 2500 most used kanji in newspapers

Common Words and/or Phrases Using this Kanji:

Click any individual kanji to view a similar information sheet for it.
Click [K] to look up the word's individual character(s) at WWWJDIC.
Click [D] to look up the word at WWWJDIC (definition is the same but other useful features exist).
Click [Jisho] to look up the word at Jisho.org.

JLPT N3 Words

• 独身   [どくしん]
  (n) bachelorhood; single; unmarried; celibate   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 自身   [じしん]
  (n) by oneself; personally   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 身   [み]
  (n) body; main part; oneself; sword   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 身体   [しんたい]
  (n) (1) body; (2) health   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 身長   [しんちょう]
  (n) height (of body); stature   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 出身   [しゅっしん]
  (n) (1) person's origin (town, city, country, etc.); (2) institution from which one graduated; (3) director in charge of employee relations   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N2 Words

• 心身   [しんしん]
  (n) mind and body   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 全身   [ぜんしん]
  (n) the whole body; full-length (portrait)   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 刺身   [さしみ]
  (n) sliced raw fish   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 身分   [みぶん]
  (n) social position; social status   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 中身   [なかみ]
  (n) contents; interior; substance; filling; (sword) blade   [K] [D] [Jisho]

JLPT N1 Words

• 受身   [うけみ]
  (adj-na,n) passive; passive voice   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 身なり   [みなり]
  (n) personal appearance   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 身の回り   [みのまわり]
  (n) one's personal appearance; personal belongings   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 身の上   [みのうえ]
  (n) one's future; one's welfare; one's personal history   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 身近   [みぢか]
  (adj-na,n) near oneself; close to one; familiar   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 身振り   [みぶり]
  (n) gesture   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 身体   [からだ]
  (n) (1) body; (2) health   [K] [D] [Jisho]

Other Popular Words Not Classified by JLPT

• 一身   [いっしん]
  (n) oneself; one's own interests; throughout the body   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 自分自身   [じぶんじしん]
  oneself; myself   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 上半身   [じょうはんしん]
  (n) upper half of body; bust   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 刺し身   [さしみ]
  (n) sliced raw fish   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 終身   [しゅうしん]
  (n) the whole life   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 分身   [ぶんしん]
  (n) parturition; delivery; one's child; branch; offshoot; one's other self   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 単身   [たんしん]
  (n-adv,n-t) alone; unaided; away from home   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 単身赴任   [たんしんふにん]
  (n) (1) solo assignment; (2) transfer   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 脂身   [あぶらみ]
  (n) fat meat   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 変身   [へんしん]
  (n,vs) metamorphosis; disguise; transformation   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 不死身   [ふじみ]
  (adj-na,n) invulnerability; immortality; insensibility to pain   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 身寄り   [みより]
  (n) relative   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 身軽   [みがる]
  (adj-na,n) light; agile; nimble; casual; carefree   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 長身   [ちょうしん]
  (n) tall figure; high stature   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 身元   [みもと]
  (n) person's identity; ID; past; background   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 半身   [はんしん]
  (n) half the body; half length   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 等身   [とうしん]
  (n) body proportions   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 下半身   [かはんしん]
  (n) lower half of body   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 身障者   [しんしょうしゃ]
  (n) disabled person; physically handicapped person   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 身上   [しんじょう]
  (n) merit; body; social position   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 身震い   [みぶるい]
  (n) shivering; trembling; shuddering   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 身体障害者   [しんたいしょうがいしゃ]
  disabled person; physically handicapped person   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 身代わり   [みがわり]
  (n) substitute (for); sacrifice (of, to); scapegoat (for)   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 前身   [ぜんしん]
  (n) antecedents; ancestor; previous position; previous existence; predecessor organization   [K] [D] [Jisho]
• 身代金要求   [みのしろきんようきゅう]
  (n) ransom demand   [K] [D] [Jisho]

Find more details for 身 at jisho.org, Yookoso! or WWWJDIC

Acknowledgments

The sofware used to generate this kanji information uses the EDICT and KANJIDIC files. These files are the property of the Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group at Monash University and are used in conformance with the Group's license.

NOTE: I converted the sources just mentioned years ago and have never really updated so there may be some missing or incorrect information that has been addressed in the original sources but not here.

The first Stroke Order image used on this page is courtesy of Ulrich Apel's excellent open source KanjiVG project. The second image is from the folks at the excellent Jisho Japanese-English dictionary site and it too is based on KanjiVG.

Classifying the kanji and popular vocabulary by the new JLPT levels was done by consulting Jonathan Waller‘s JLPT Resources page, renshuu, Wictionary, and Nihongo Ichiban.

The Henshall Mnemonics are the copyright of Tuttle Publishing and are the result of the hard work by Professor Henshall. See the list I used here.

If you are curious about the lexicography shown in the word definitions, visit the WWWJDIC abbreviations and codes guide and the JMdict/Edict Lexicographical details page.