SHEN-2

('shen' in the second tone)

There are about 45 standard Chinese characters that are spoken 'shen'. There is no clear pattern of sound-determining elements. A slight degree of uniformity exists through the repeated occurence of the character 申 = shen = to state. It is integrated with several more complicated characters.

什么 = shen(2)me(-) = what?

什么时候 = shen(2)me(-) shi(2)hou = when?