尸

contributes the sense of a human body — usually a body bent · Kangxi radical 44

contributes the sense of a human body — usually a body bent, seated or lying down, and by extension the back and buttocks or a corpse

The old graph is a side view of a person with the body bent and the legs drawn up, either sitting back on the heels or lying stretched out; it is the same human figure as 人 but folded over instead of standing. In the modern three-strokes you can still read it: the short top stroke is the head and shoulders, the long downward stroke is the back, and the final bent stroke is the leg tucked underneath. This is why it sits above characters about the lower body and what comes from it (屁), about feet and footwear (履, 屐, 屦), and about a laid-out body (屠). Note that a few characters here only look related — 户 was drawn as a single door leaf and 尹 as a hand gripping a baton, and their tops merely fell together with 尸 in later writing.

尸 at a glance

Meaning

contributes the sense of a human body — usually a body bent

Strokes

3

Characters

46

Role

Contributes meaning

Kangxi radical

44

Characters with 尸 (36 of 46)

Frequently asked questions