浑身

• Pinyin: hún shēn
• Hanzi breakdown: 浑 = 氵+ 军 (water radical + army/mass, suggesting wholeness or turbidity; here means 'entire'); 身 = pictograph of a person's body, meaning body/self

Meaning

The entire body; all over one's body. Used to express a physical sensation or condition that affects the whole person from head to toe.

浑身 is an emphatic expression meaning 'the whole body.' It frequently combines with adjectives to describe physical states such as 浑身酸痛 (aching all over), 浑身无力 (weak all over), or 浑身湿透 (soaked to the bone). It can also describe an intangible quality someone radiates, as in 浑身散发着自信 (radiating confidence from head to toe).

Examples

1. 他跑完全程马拉松后，浑身酸痛难忍，却依然挺起胸膛踏上了领奖台，赢得了全场观众的掌声。 After finishing the full marathon, his whole body ached unbearably, yet he still held his head high as he stepped onto the podium, winning applause from the entire crowd.
2. 听到这个噩耗，她浑身一颤，手中的茶杯不由自主地滑落在地，碎成了数片。 When she heard the bad news, her whole body trembled, and the teacup in her hand slipped to the ground and shattered into pieces.
3. 这位年轻教师走进课堂时，浑身散发着对教育事业的热情，感染了在场的每一位学生。 When the young teacher walked into the classroom, he radiated passion for education, and it moved every student present.

Usage Guide

Context: physical states, emotion, description

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 大雨突然倾盆而下，她没有携带雨伞，不到几分钟便被淋得浑身湿透，只好狼狈地躲进了路边一家咖啡馆，等候雨势减弱。(A torrential downpour suddenly broke out; she hadn't brought an umbrella, and within minutes she was soaked to the bone, having no choice but to stumble into a roadside café and wait for the rain to ease.)
• 经过连续三天的紧急抢救，消防员们浑身疲惫，却仍坚守在灾区现场，守护着每一位幸存者的生命安全，不敢有片刻懈怠。(After three consecutive days of emergency rescue operations, the firefighters were exhausted to the bone, yet they remained at the disaster site standing guard over the safety of every survivor, not daring to relax for even a moment.)

Don't Say

• 浑身 in clinical medical contexts for a systemic symptom — use 全身 instead; 全身 is more neutral and precise in medical language, while 浑身 is more colloquial and emphatic

Origin & History

浑 (whole/entire — also turbid/full) + 身 (body) — literally 'the whole body'; 浑 here functions as 'all/entire' rather than its primary meaning of 'turbid'

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal