呻 (shēn): (literary) to recite, to chant, to intone

呻 (shēn) is a Chinese character meaning “(literary) to recite.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 口 (semantic) and 申 (phonetic). It ranks #3007 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 呻 mouth. Its radical form 口 (mouth) appears in many related characters such as 口 (kǒu, mouth), 吃 (chī, to eat), 喝 (hē, to drink).

Native pronunciation

HSK 7-9 Radical: 口 mouth8 strokesFrequency #3007口 semantic 申 phonetic

Definitions

(literary) to recite
to chant
to intone

Etymology & Origin

呻

pictophoneticmouth

Decomposition: ⿰口申 (layout: left-right)

Components:口semantic 申phonetic

Stroke Order

Practice writing 呻 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
呻吟	shēn yín	to moan
无病呻吟	wú bìng shēn yín	(idiom) to moan and groan despite not being sick

Total compounds

As first character

As last character

As middle character

呻 appears in 2 compound words: 50 as the first character, 0 as the last, and 50 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 呻 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

吟yín

0.7833,084 co-occurrences

病bìng

0.463984 co-occurrences

喘chuǎn

0.43230 co-occurrences

痛tòng

0.427192 co-occurrences

苦kǔ

0.406156 co-occurrences

声shēng

0.369168 co-occurrences

叫jiào

0.33872 co-occurrences

语yǔ

0.338198 co-occurrences

无wú

0.328174 co-occurrences

呼hū

0.29548 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

无病呻吟wúbìngshēnyínHSK 7+

to make a fuss about imaginary worries; to pine and whine about nothing; to adopt a sentimental pose

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

请呻下这杯茶，解解渴再继续工作。

qǐng shēn xià zhè bēi chá , jiě jiě kě zài jì xù gōng zuò .

Please have a sip of this tea to quench your thirst before getting back to work.

Hk01.comApr 2026

迷你奶茶?茶记热奶茶细似微缩玩具食客呻悭皮网民嘲分子料理

mí nǐ nǎi chá ? chá jì rè nǎi chá xì sì wēi suō wán jù shí kè shēn 悭 pí wǎng mín cháo fēn zǐ liào lǐ

StheadlineApr 2026

...! 手掌咁大如港式espresso 食客呻悭皮网民嘲..玩紧煮饭仔呀

. . . ! shǒu zhǎng 咁 dà rú gǎng shì e s p r e s s o shí kè shēn 悭 pí wǎng mín cháo . . wán jǐn zhǔ fàn zǐ yā

StheadlineFeb 2026

30岁港男亮身家呻穷想搵快钱拍拖网民劝检讨开支自爆月入...

3 0 suì gǎng nán liàng shēn jiā shēn qióng xiǎng 搵 kuài qián pāi tuō wǎng mín quàn jiǎn tǎo kāi zhī zì bào yuè rù . . .

A 30-year-old Hong Kong man showed off his net worth and complained about his poverty and wanted to make quick money to date, netizens advised him to review his expenses and self-destruct his monthly income...

Hk01.comFeb 2026

...扮争埋单!港男不慎争赢焗畀$1,560 呻被屈钱

. . . bàn zhēng mái dān ! gǎng nán bù shèn zhēng yíng 焗畀 1 , 5 6 0 shēn bèi qū qián

... Pretend to settle the bill! A Hong Kong man accidentally won $1,560 and was wronged

Character Family

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 呻 (shēn) mean in Chinese?

呻 (shēn) primarily means "(literary) to recite." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #3007 in character frequency.

How many strokes does 呻 have?

呻 is written with 8 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.

What is the radical of 呻?

The radical associated with 呻 is 口 (mouth). This radical appears in many characters related to mouth.

What are the components of 呻?

呻 is composed of: 口 (semantic), 申 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰口申 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.

What are common words containing 呻?

Common words with 呻 include: 呻吟 (shēn yín, "to moan"); 无病呻吟 (wú bìng shēn yín, "(idiom) to moan and groan despite not being sick"). There are over 2 compound words containing this character.

What characters sound the same as 呻 (shēn)?

Several characters share the pronunciation shēn: 绅 (member of gentry). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.

Is 呻 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?

Yes, 呻 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 呻 with real-time feedback

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