You Collection, Middle Volume Radical: Body (shēn) Character: Gong Kangxi stroke count: 14 Page 1237, Entry 43 Pronounced gong According to the Shuowen Jiezi (Shuowen), it means body. Formed from the radical body and the character for spine. The commentary by Xu states: The character for spine is the ancient form of the word for backbone, depicting the shape of the human spinal column. Sometimes written as a variant form derived from the character for bow.