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一身 (yī shēn) — whole body, from head to toe; single person, alone

Definition

Used after a quality or state to mean 'the whole body is / feels ...' (一身正气, 一身轻松). For a neutral 'the whole body', 全身 is more common; 浑身 emphasizes how that feeling saturates the body.

noun
whole bodyfrom head to toesingle personalone

Examples

  • 一身。
    Tā máng dé yī shēn dōu shì hàn.
    He is so busy that his whole body is covered in sweat.
  • 一身，。
    Tā yī shēn zhèng qì, lìng rén jìng pèi.
    He is full of righteous spirit, commanding respect.
  • ，一身。
    Kǎo wán zhī hòu, tā yī shēn qīng sōng.
    After the exam, he felt relaxed all over.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

一yīwhole
身shēnbody

一 and 身 make 'whole body', extending to a single person or a suit.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

一 is drawn as one horizontal stroke, marking the number one.

Open 一 →

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 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 6Body PartsPeople (General)

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