死ぬ
しぬ · shinu · JLPT N5 · verb-godan
to die
💀 shi-nu: shi is also the reading of 四 (four), the unlucky death number
死 is read shi, the same sound as 四 (four), which is why four is avoided in Japan: hospitals often skip room 4. Add the verb ending ぬ and you get shinu, to die. It is the only common verb ending in ぬ.
死 — 歹 (bare bones) + 匕 (kneeling person)
Originally a pictograph showing a living person (匕) beside skeletal remains (歹), depicting someone mourning or kneeling next to a corpse. The combination came to mean 'death' or 'to die.' The 歹 component, derived from a bone fragment, signals the death-related meaning across many related characters.