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身子 (shēn zi) — (noun) body (colloquial); (noun) health, physical condition; (noun) pregnancy (euphemistic)

Definition

Spoken word for 'body' or 'health'. Less formal than 身体 (and not for the technical/human-body sense of 人体). '有了身子' is a polite euphemism for being pregnant.

noun
body (colloquial)healthphysical conditionpregnancy (euphemistic)

Examples

  • 身子，。
    Lǎo rén jia de shēn zi hái yìng lǎng, zǒu lù hěn kuài.
    The old person's body is still strong; they walk very fast.
  • 身子？。
    Nǐ zuì jìn shēn zi zěn me yàng? yào zhù yì xiū xi.
    How has your health been lately? You need to get some rest.
  • 身子。
    Tā jié hūn bù jiǔ jiù yǒu le shēn zi.
    She got pregnant not long after getting married.

Origin

Derived word
构词法gòucífǎ
后缀hòuzhuìSuffix

A fixed syllable at the end that turns the word into a noun, a person, a place or the like.

身shēnbody
子zǐ

身 means body, and 子 gives a familiar colloquial form, yielding 身子 for the body or health.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 身 comes from a drawing of a pregnant woman.

Open 身 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

子 is drawn as a baby with a large head, arms stretched out, and legs wrapped in a blanket.

Open 子 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Body Parts

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