(shèn): kidney

(shèn) is a Chinese character meaning “kidney.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), with radical (moon). It ranks #2291 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, flesh. Its radical form (moon) appears in many related characters such as (yuè, moon, month), (yǒu, to have), (péng, friend).

Native pronunciation
HSK 7-9Radical: moon8 strokesFrequency #2291

Definitions

  1. kidney

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticflesh

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
shèn shàng xiànadrenal glands
shèn zàngkidney
shèn jié shíkidney stone
shèn yánkidney inflammation
shèn yúrenal pelvis (medicine)
yuán shèn guǎnprotonephridium (invertebrate anatomy)
shèn gōng néngkidney function
shèn xiǎo qiúglomerulus (medicine)
shèn shàng xiàn pí zhìadrenal cortex
jiàng shèn shàng xiàn sùnoradrenalin
zǒu shèn(med) retractile testicle
shèn shàng xiàn sùadrenaline
shèn shàng xiàn suǐ zhìadrenal medulla
fù shènadrenal glands
xǐ shènto have dialysis treatment
16
Total compounds
69
As first character
19
As last character
13
As middle character

appears in 16 compound words: 69 as the first character, 19 as the last, and 13 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.

zāng
0.7125,100 co-occurrences
xiàn
0.6644,074 co-occurrences
gān
0.5741,752 co-occurrences
jié
0.512708 co-occurrences
shuāi
0.4881,164 co-occurrences
0.4723,102 co-occurrences
zhǎn
0.46996 co-occurrences
bìng
0.4623,528 co-occurrences
0.461204 co-occurrences
尿niào
0.454432 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

shènshàngxiànsùHSK 7+

adrenaline; epinephrine

noun

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

多喝水有助于保护脏健康,每天至少喝八杯水。

Duō hē shuǐ yǒuzhù yú bǎohù shènzàng jiànkāng, měitiān zhìshǎo hē bā bēi shuǐ.

Drinking plenty of water helps protect kidney health; drink at least eight glasses of water daily.

99 健康网Mar 2026

男人勃不起是什么原因引起的呢?慢性病影响激素代谢和体力吗

nán rén bó bù qǐ shì shén má yuán yīn yǐn qǐ de ne ? màn xìng shèn bìng yǐng xiǎng jī sù dài xiè hé tǐ lì ma

What causes men to have an erection? Does chronic kidney disease affect hormone metabolism and physical strength?

UdnnewsindexMar 2026

慢性脏病常伴随胀气、便秘 医师:多吃5类水果...

màn xìng shèn zāng bìng cháng bàn suí zhàng qì , biàn mì yī shī : duō chī 5 lèi shuǐ guǒ . . .

Chronic kidney disease is often accompanied by flatulence and constipation Doctor: Eat more 5 types of fruits...

99 健康网Feb 2026

意大利小偷把结石误认黄金偷走,科学认识结石很重要

yì dà lì xiǎo tōu bǎ shèn jié shí wù rèn huáng jīn tōu zǒu , kē xué rèn shí shèn jié shí hěn chóng yāo

Italian thieves mistook kidney stones for gold and stole them, and it is important to understand kidney stones scientifically

99 健康网Feb 2026

意大利小偷把结石误认黄金偷走!医生:这“石头”比黄金...

yì dà lì xiǎo tōu bǎ shèn jié shí wù rèn huáng jīn tōu zǒu ! yī shēng zhè shí tóu bǐ huáng jīn . . .

Italian thief mistook kidney stones for gold and stole them! Doctor: This "stone" is more than gold...

NewsFeb 2026

以为黄金!贼闯宅偷宝盒 他:是我结石

yǐ wéi huáng jīn ! zéi chuǎng zhái tōu bǎo hé tā shì wǒ shèn jié shí

Thought it was gold! Burglar breaks into house to steal treasure box. He: "It's my kidney stones."

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced shèn

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 肾 (shèn) mean in Chinese?
肾 (shèn) primarily means "kidney." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #2291 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 肾 have?
肾 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 肾?
The radical associated with 肾 is 月 (moon). This radical appears in many characters related to moon.
What are common words containing 肾?
Common words with 肾 include: 肾上腺 (shèn shàng xiàn, "adrenal glands"); 肾脏 (shèn zàng, "kidney"); 肾结石 (shèn jié shí, "kidney stone"); 肾炎 (shèn yán, "kidney inflammation"); 肾盂 (shèn yú, "renal pelvis (medicine)"). There are over 16 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 肾 (shèn)?
Several characters share the pronunciation shèn: 申 (old name for Shanghai 上海[Shang4 hai3]), 伸 (to stretch), 身 (body), 绅 (member of gentry), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 肾 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 肾 and the traditional form is 腎.

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.