Affordance, a pivotal concept in media studies, has lost its kernel during the appropriation in communication studies, which showcases the complexity of grasping its original and nuanced complications. Teasing out its origins and contexts, this paper examines the junctures of appropriation to delineate the paradigm shift and conceptual translation behind it, which draws our attention to the mistranslation “Kegongxing”. This paper proposes the term “Shineng” to replace it. As an interdisciplinary concept, “Shineng” highlights trifold properties, including embodiment, materiality, and object-subject’s symmetry, serving as a possible way-out for the predicaments of media studies as such and an advantageous pinpoint for the shift and reconstitution of communication studies as a whole.