大夫

Wikipedia has articles on:

• 大夫 (Written Standard Chinese^?)
• 大夫 (Cantonese)

大夫

1. (colloquial) (medical) doctor

大夫

1. (archaic, historical) A governmental job title used during the Spring and Autumn period, the Warring States period and the early Chinese dynasties, whose responsibilities encompassed managing royal and court affairs, often translated as "senior official", "high officer" or "great officer".

   • 宜大夫庶士、邦國是有。既多受祉、黃髮兒齒。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     宜大夫庶士、邦国是有。既多受祉、黄发儿齿。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Classic of Poetry, c. 11^th – 7^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Yí dàfū shù shì, bāngguó shì yǒu. Jì duō shòu zhǐ, huángfà'érchǐ.

     With his excellent ministers and all his officers.
     Our region and State shall he hold,
     Thus receiving many blessings,
     To hoary hair, and with teeth ever renewed like a child's.

2. (Hailu Hakka) large, dry field

• (large, dry field): (Hakka) 大坵

大夫

1. a surname

from Chinese 大夫 (“great man”). Also written as 太夫.

大(たい)夫(ふ) • (taifu) 

1. (historical) an office in Zhou Dynasty, China.
2. (historical, in Japan) substitutive style of high ranked courtier, particularly officers in the 5th rank (五位).
3. (historical, in Japan, also daibu) head of shoku(職) or bō(坊), administrative departments of the imperial court.
4. (historical) karō (家老)
5. pine tree (based in an episode Qin Shi Huangdi or the First Emperor of Qin granted a pine tree the dignity of Taifu )
6. style of Shinto shrine headmaster.

from taifu (see above)

/taiɸu/ → /taiu/ → /tajuː/

大(たゆ)夫(う) • (tayū) ^{←たいふ (taifu)?}

1. (in Noh-theater) iemoto or the head master of shite (シテ) acting family.
2. (in jōruri/bunraku-theater) style of narrators and shamisen players.
3. (historical, in Edo period) highest ranked prostitutes at the officially approved prostitution areas, such as, Yoshiwara.
4. leading actor in a manzai pair
5. style of Shinto shrine headmaster