(shēn): old name for Shanghai 上海[Shang4 hai3], surname Shen, to extend

(shēn) is a Chinese character meaning “old name for shanghai 上海[shang4 hai3].” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #1109 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically pictographic, a bolt of lightning. Its radical form (field) appears in many related characters such as (diàn, lightning), (nán, male), (yóu, to follow).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. old name for Shanghai 上海[Shang4 hai3]
  2. surname Shen
  3. to extend

Etymology & Origin

pictographicA bolt of lightning

Decomposition: ⿻日丨 (layout: overlay)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
verbshēn qǐngto apply for sth4

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
shēn qǐng biǎoapplication form
chóng shēnto reaffirm
shēn sùto file a complaint
shēn míngto declare
shēn qǐng shūapplication
shēn bàoto report (to the authorities)
shēn qǐng rénapplicant
shēn biànto defend oneself
shēn shùto state
yǐn shēnto extend (the meaning of a word, an analogy etc)
shēn chìto rebuke
shēn yuānto appeal for justice
yǐn shēn yìextended meaning (of an expression)
ā liú shēn qún dǎoAleutian Islands (trailing 2250 km southwest of Alaska almost down to Kamtchatka)
shēn gòuto ask to buy
57
Total compounds
68
As first character
18
As last character
14
As middle character

appears in 57 compound words: 68 as the first character, 18 as the last, and 14 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

qǐng
0.67995,595 co-occurrences
bǐng
0.48510,830 co-occurrences
0.4729,870 co-occurrences
piào
0.43619 co-occurrences
jiǎ
0.42820,358 co-occurrences
píng
0.41911 co-occurrences
bào
0.41618,144 co-occurrences
yuān
0.4011,680 co-occurrences
bào
0.3852,052 co-occurrences
chóng
0.38236,204 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

sānlìngwǔshēnHSK 5+

to repeatedly order, instruct, admonish or warn

verb

Showing 1 of 2 idioms containing .

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

请这个职位需要提交简历和相关证明材料。

Shēnqǐng zhè gè zhíwèi xūyào tījiāo jiǎnlì hé xiāngguān zhèngmíng cáiliào.

Applying for this position requires submitting a resume and relevant supporting documents.

透视俄罗斯 | 俄罗斯新闻Feb 2026

约1.5万人参加:恶劣天气难挡布拉戈维斯克谢肉节庆典

yuē 1 . 5 wàn rén cān jiā : è liè tiān qì nán dǎng bù lā gē wéi shēn sī kè xiè ròu jié qìng diǎn

About 15,000 people participated: bad weather could not stop the Blagoveshchensk Thanksgiving Meat Day celebration

WorldjournalFeb 2026

社安金多拿了怎么办?有机会请保留

shè ān jīn duō ná le zěn má bàn ? yǒu jī huì shēn qǐng bǎo liú

What should I do if I get more social security funds? There is an opportunity to apply for reservation

马来西亚诗华日报新闻网Feb 2026

涉行贿800万换取贷款请 反贪会捕前电讯公司董事

shè háng huì 8 0 0 wàn huàn qǔ dài kuǎn shēn qǐng fǎn tān huì bǔ qián diàn xùn gōng sī dǒng shì

Involved in bribery of 8 million yuan in exchange for loan applications The Anti-Corruption Commission arrested former telecommunications company directors

百度新闻Feb 2026

“马”上来沪|艺马当先 在城美术馆里过个雅致年

mǎ shǎng lái hù yì mǎ dāng xiān zài shēn chéng měi shù guǎn lǐ guò gě yǎ zhì nián

"Horses Come to Shanghai|Art Horses Take the Lead Have an Elegant Year in Shencheng Art Museums

百度新闻Feb 2026

伊朗总统重:伊朗现在不会、将来也永远不会寻求核武....

yī lǎng zǒng tǒng chóng shēn yī lǎng xiàn zài bù huì jiāng lái yě yǒng yuǎn bù huì xún qiú hé wǔ . . . .

Iran's president reiterates:Iran does not now and will never seek nuclear weapons ....

Tatoeba

汤姆填写职位请表。

Tāngmǔ tiánxiě zhíwèi shēnqǐngbiǎo.

Tom filled out the job application form.

Tatoeba

珍填好了一张请书。

Zhēn tián hǎo le yī zhāng shēnqǐngshū.

Jane filled out an application.

Tatoeba

汤姆请了这份工作。

Tāngmǔ shēnqǐng le zhè fèn gōngzuò.

Tom applied for the job.

Tatoeba

玛丽从大约500名请者中脱颖而出。

Mǎlì cóng dàyuē 500 míng shēnqǐng zhě zhōng tuōyǐng'érchū.

Mary got the nod from among some 500 applicants.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced shēn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 申 (shēn) mean in Chinese?
申 (shēn) primarily means "old name for shanghai 上海[shang4 hai3]." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #1109 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 申 have?
申 is written with 5 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 申?
The radical associated with 申 is 田 (field). This radical appears in many characters related to field.
What are the components of 申?
申 is composed of: 日 (structural), 丨 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿻日丨 with a overlay layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 申?
Common words with 申 include: 申请 (shēn qǐng, "to apply for sth"); 申请表 (shēn qǐng biǎo, "application form"); 重申 (chóng shēn, "to reaffirm"); 申诉 (shēn sù, "to file a complaint"); 申明 (shēn míng, "to declare"). There are over 57 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 申 (shēn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation shēn: 伸 (to stretch), 身 (body), 绅 (member of gentry), 深 (deep), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 申 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 申 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.