Meaning
God; unusual; mysterious; soul; spirit; divine essence
Chinese: 神灵、精神或神奇。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “shen” becomes a different word in each tone. 神 is the 2nd tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 精神jīng shénspirit; mind; consciousness; thought
- 神秘shén mìmysterious; mystery
- 神话shén huàlegend; fairy tale; myth; mythology
- 神经shén jīngnerve; mental state; (coll.) unhinged; nutjob
- 神奇shén qímagical; mystical; miraculous
Example Sentence
他今天看起来很有精神。Tā jīn tiān kàn qǐ lái hěn yǒu jīng shen.He looks very energetic today.
他Tāhe今天jīn tiāntoday看kànto look after起来qǐ láito stand up很hěnvery有yǒuto have精神jīng shenspirit。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
The spirit radical 礻 plus 申 (lightning, sound): the powers in the sky — ‘a god, deity, spirit; spirit, energy, mind; magical, marvelous; expression’ (神话, 精神, 神奇).
A way to remember it
The spirit radical (礻) — a god; spirit, energy.