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Definition 2024


先生

先生

Chinese

 
early; prior; former; in advance; first
 
to be born; to give birth; life; to grow; student; raw
simp. and trad.
(先生)

Noun

先生

  1. (Beginning Mandarin) mister, sir
    先生 / 先生   Wáng xiānshēng lái le.   Mr. Wang came.
    先生 / 先生 [Min Nan]   Ông--sian-seⁿ lâi--ah. [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]   Mr. Ong came.
  2. (formal) husband
  3. (Gan, Hakka, Min, dated in Mandarin and Jin) doctor
  4. (Cantonese, Gan, Hakka, Min, dated in Mandarin, honorific in Jin) teacher

Synonyms

  • (doctor):
Dialectal synonyms of 醫生 (“doctor; physician”)
Variety Location Words
Formal (Written Standard Chinese) 醫生醫師
Mandarin Beijing 大夫醫生
Taiwan 醫生大夫
Tianjin 大夫醫生
Jinan 大夫先生 TCM
Xi'an 大夫先生 TCM
Wuhan 醫生先生 TCM
Chengdu 醫生老師 TCM先生 TCM
Yangzhou 醫生先生 TCM郎中 TCM
Hefei 醫生先生 TCM郎中 TCM
Cantonese Guangzhou 醫生先生 TCM
Hong Kong 醫生醫師 TCM
Taishan 醫生
Yangjiang 醫生先生
Gan Nanchang 醫師郎中
Hakka Meixian 醫生先生
Miaoli (N. Sixian) 先生醫生醫師
Liudui (S. Sixian) 先生醫生醫師
Hsinchu (Hailu) 先生醫生醫師
Dongshi (Dabu) 先生醫生醫師
Zhuolan (Raoping) 先生醫生醫師
Yunlin (Zhao'an) 先生醫生
Jin Taiyuan 大夫先生 TCM
Min Bei Jian'ou 醫生先生 TCM
Min Dong Fuzhou 醫生先生 TCM
Min Nan Quanzhou 醫生先生
Xiamen 醫生先生
Zhangzhou 醫生先生
Taipei 醫生先生
Kaohsiung 醫生先生
Tainan 醫生先生
Taichung 醫生先生
Yilan 醫生先生
Lukang 醫生先生
Sanxia 醫生先生
Kinmen 先生
Magong 醫生先生
Hsinchu 醫生先生
Malaysia 醫生、老君
Singapore 醫生、老君
Chaozhou 醫生先生 TCM
Wu Suzhou 醫生郎中先生 TCM
Wenzhou 醫生先生 TCM
Xiang Changsha 醫生醫師 TCM郎中 TCM先生 TCM
Shuangfeng 醫師郎中 TCM
Note TCM: doctor practising traditional Chinese medicine

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (先生):

See also

References


Japanese

Kanji in this term
せん
Grade: 1
せい
Grade: 1
on'yomi

Etymology

From Middle Chinese compound 先生 (sen sræng, literally first + to be born).

Pronunciation

Noun

先生 (hiragana せんせい, romaji sensei)

  1. one who was born earlier: an elder
  2. one who excels at a subject: a scholar
  3. one who teaches: a teacher or professor
  4. sensei (Japanese martial arts teacher)
  5. sir, a polite form of address to teachers, doctors, etc.

Usage notes

This is a term of respect, reserved only for speaking about others, and considered somewhat impolite (immodest) to use when referring to oneself. Instead, the term 教師 (kyōshi, teacher, literally teaching + teacher) is considered more socially appropriate when referring to oneself.

Derived terms

Suffix

先生 (hiragana せんせい, romaji -sensei)

  1. a title used after the name of teachers, doctors, lawyers, or certain other professionals

See also

References

  1. 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9
  • 2002, Ineko Kondō; Fumi Takano; Mary E Althaus; et. al., Shogakukan Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary, Third Edition, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, ISBN 4095102535.

Korean

Hanja in this term

Noun

先生 (seonsaeng) (hangeul 선생)

  1. Hanja form? of 선생, “teacher”.

Vietnamese

Hán tự in this word

Noun

先生

  1. Hán tự form of tiên sinh, “teacher