独身
dú shēn · HSK 7
unmarried
🧍 独 alone + 身 body = a body standing alone, unmarried
独 means alone or solitary, 身 means body or self. Together they literally describe a solitary body — someone who has no spouse. The word emphasizes the state of being on ones own rather than any choice.
独 — dog radical 犭 + 蜀 (phonetic)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 犭 (dog) gives the meaning, since dogs were thought to fight when kept together and so were often kept singly, while 蜀 supplies the sound. The original sense was 'solitary dog,' which broadened to 'alone, single, only.'
身 — pictograph of a pregnant body
身 is a pictograph originally depicting a person with a swollen belly, representing a pregnant woman in profile. Over time the meaning broadened from 'pregnancy' or 'torso' to refer to the body in general, and by extension oneself or one's person.