身体
body; health
HSK level
- Pinyin
- shēntǐ
- Part of speech
- noun
- Level
- HSK 2
- Strokes
- 14
- Register
- neutral
- Measure word
- 个
- In episodes
- 5
Stroke order for 身体
身体 is written with 14 strokes (身: 7, 体: 7). The animation replays automatically.
What does 身体 mean?
身体 (shēntǐ) means both 'body' and 'health' — two senses English splits into separate words but Chinese fuses into one.
Concretely it is the physical body (身体很高 'tall body'), but in everyday conversation it more often means general health: 你身体好吗? is not 'is your body good?' but 'how is your health?' / 'how are you?' Compared with English, 身体 is the default polite check-in for wellbeing, especially with older people; saying 注意身体 ('take care of your health') as you part ways is as common as 'take care' in English.
For medical conditions and clinical states, switch to 健康 (jiànkāng, 'healthy / health' as a more formal noun). 身体 is also the word a doctor will ask about: 你身体哪儿不舒服? ('Where on your body is uncomfortable / what's wrong?').
Character by character
Memory hook: 身 and 体 both already mean 'body' — 身体 doubles up for the modern two-syllable noun.
Hear 身体 in real episodes
身体 appears in 5 Fluentide podcast episodes at natural native speed, 4 of them below. Each sentence plays at the easiest difficulty it exists in — switch it to hear the same moment at your level, with full pinyin and English throughout.
大象喜欢在身上放土，这对它们的身体好。
Elephants like putting dirt on their bodies; it's good for them.
A Squirrel Attacks an Owl and a Moose Sneezes: The Funniest Wildlife Photos of 2026 Are InElementary
每一秒，都有大量的中微子穿过你的身体，你一点感觉都没有。
Every second, huge numbers of neutrinos pass through your body, and you feel nothing.
Francis Halzen Wins the Physics Nobel for Turning a Cubic Kilometer of Antarctic Ice Into a Telescope for Ghost ParticlesIntermediate
血压，是你的血在身体里走的时候，有多大的力。
Blood pressure is how much force your blood has as it moves through your body.
Tongue Scrapers Beat Toothbrushes at Fighting Bad Breath — and Your Tongue's Bacteria May Help Lower Your Blood Pressure
力气，就是你身体里能做事情的东西。
力气 is the thing in your body that lets you do things.
A FlyDubai Co-Pilot Attacked His Captain With the Cockpit's Own Axe. Passengers Broke In and Saved the Plane.Elementary
Example sentences
他身体很好。
Tā shēntǐ hěn hǎo.
He's in great health.
neutral
你最近身体怎么样？
Nǐ zuìjìn shēntǐ zěnmeyàng?
How has your health been lately?
spoken, polite
天气冷了，注意身体。
Tiānqì lěng le, zhùyì shēntǐ.
The weather's getting cold — take care of yourself.
spoken
我每天早上锻炼身体。
Wǒ měi tiān zǎoshang duànliàn shēntǐ.
I exercise every morning.
neutral
Common phrases with 身体
Synonyms
Don't confuse 身体 with
Frequently asked questions
Related words from the same episodes
Acquire it by listening
Meet 身体 again — in real Chinese, at your level.
You just saw 身体 in 5 episodes. Fluentide keeps feeding you news episodes at your level, so this word — and thousands like it — resurface in real sentences until they stick. Full pinyin and translation every time. Free to start.