A formal or literary term for a dead human body; often used in news reports, literature, or dramatic contexts. More solemn than 死体.
kanji "corpse" radical
Only with reading しかばね / かばね
Refers to the kanji radical 尸 (しかばね・かばね), used in characters related to the body or dwelling. Only used with readings しかばね or かばね.
See also: しかばねかんむり
Countless corpses lay scattered across the battlefield.
Many corpses lay scattered on the battlefield.
The police found an unidentified corpse on the riverbank.
"尸" is one of the radicals, called the "corpse crown".
That battle only left behind a mountain of corpses.
He grabbed success by stepping over the bodies of his own comrades.
尸冠 is the standard dictionary name for the kanji radical 尸, while 屍 in this sense refers to the same radical shape as used in body-related characters.
遺体 is the respectful term used in funeral or formal contexts for a deceased person's remains, whereas 屍 carries a stark, literary tone.
死骸 usually refers to the carcass of an animal (or a corpse viewed coldly as a mere object), while 屍 is reserved for human corpses in solemn or literary contexts.
body; physique; posture · shape; form; style · substance; identity; reality · field (mathematics) · counter for humanoid forms (dolls, statues, corpses, etc.) · typeface; type
Standard kanji spelling; common in news and literary contexts.
Rarely used kanji form; mainly encountered in historical or specialized texts.
Kana spelling is common when the kanji is considered difficult or in casual writing.
The reading しかばね is a native Japanese word of uncertain origin. The kanji 屍 is a pictograph of a person lying down, representing a corpse.