独身
どくしん · dokushin · JLPT N3 · na-adj
single
🧍 独身 = alone + body: one body, all on its own
独 (doku) means alone or solitary, as in 独立 dokuritsu, independence. 身 (shin) means body or self, as in 身長 shinchō, height. A self that stays alone is a single, unmarried person.
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.