Meaning & readings

expand, stretch, extend, lengthen, increase

On’yomi シン
Kun’yomi の.びる、の.ばす、の.べる、の.す
Nanori のぶ、よぼる

Origin

The character combines the "person" radical on the left, which indicates this describes what a person does with their body, with the component on the right that serves as a sound hint for the pronunciation シン. The right component doesn't contribute to the meaning itself, but rather tells you roughly how to say the character. When you think of a person stretching or extending their limbs or body, you get the meaning of expansion and lengthening that this character carries.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).

7 strokes

Components

  • radical left
  • sound hint right

A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.

Common words

  • 欠伸 あくび yawn; yawning
  • 伸し のし stretching
  • 伸縮 しんしゅく expansion and contraction; elasticity
  • 追伸 ついしん postscript; post scriptum
  • 伸び のび growth; development
  • 急伸 きゅうしん sudden rise (esp. of stock prices); jump
  • 続伸 ぞくしん continuous rise (in market price)
  • 伸びる のびる to stretch; to extend

Reference

Strokes
7
Kangxi radical
9
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
#730 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+04F38