字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

encroach, invade, raid, trespass, violate

On’yomi シン
Kun’yomi おか.す

Origin

This character combines the person radical on the left (showing this word involves human action) with a sound-hint component on the right that suggests the pronunciation "shin." The right side doesn't directly picture invading or encroaching — instead, it tells you roughly how to say the character. The meaning comes from the person radical paired with this sound: together they create a word for when someone physically enters or violates a space or boundary they shouldn't, which is the core idea of invading or trespassing.

侵 9 strokes

Components

  • 亻 radical left
  • 侵right/帚T＋又 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

  • 侵す おかす to invade; to raid
  • 侵害 しんがい infringement; violation
  • 侵食 しんしょく encroachment; invasion
  • 侵入 しんにゅう invasion; incursion
  • 侵犯 しんぱん violation (of foreign territory, rights, etc.); invasion
  • 侵攻 しんこう invasion
  • 侵略 しんりゃく invasion (e.g. of a country); raid
  • 不可侵 ふかしん inviolability; nonaggression

Related kanji

Same radical

Easily confused with

These look alike but are unrelated in meaning — check the stroke that differs.

Reference

Strokes
9
Kangxi radical
9
Formation type
Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
#1025 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 1
Unicode
U+04FB5