芯 means “core, wick, lead”

しん · shin

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

シン

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 7 strokes

The story

Grass (艹) over a heart (心): the white pith at the heart of a rush, once burned as lamp wicks. 芯 is the core of things: the lead of a pencil, the wick of a candle, the core of an apple, and 芯まで冷える is to be chilled to the bone.

Used in 芯 (shin, core/wick), 鉛筆の芯 (enpitsu no shin, pencil lead), and 替え芯 (kaeshin, refill lead)

More from Roots & Foundations

• 基 foundation
• 幹 trunk
• 源 source
• 拠 basis
• 盤 board
• 礎 cornerstone
• 軸 axis
• 概 outline
• 枢 pivot

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Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.