師

Translingual

Stroke order (Sans-serif)

Stroke order

Han character

師 (Kangxi radical 50, 巾+7, 10 strokes, cangjie input 竹口一中月 (HRMLB), four-corner 2172₇, composition ⿰𠂤帀)

Descendants

• 师

Derived characters

• 𪝜, 𡟪, 𢲐, 溮, 獅, 𬄁, 瑡, 𧜂, 螄, 𫑺, 𩥐, 鰤, 鶳, 𪪀, 𪄜, 蒒, 篩, 𭕪, 𤹌, 𩮭, 𡠋, 𧏍, 𧔽

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 331, character 35
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 8916
• Dae Jaweon: page 637, character 28
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 740, character 2
• Unihan data for U+5E2B

Chinese

Wikipedia has articles on:

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

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 師
Western Zhou	Warring States
Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 𠂤 (“mound, hill”) + 帀 – ancient troops were usually stationed at a hill.

Each of the two components can be used as 師 on their own in preclassical scripts. The significance of 帀 is debated.

Etymology

Starostin derives this word from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *rij (“many”), cognate with 皆 (OC *kriːj, “all”), 偕 (OC *kriːj, “together with”), as well as Tibetan ཁྲི (khri, “ten thousand”) and Burmese ရဲ (rai:, “police”).

Pronunciation

Definitions

師

1. (historical, military) division of 2500 soldiers

   • 我徒我御，我師我旅。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, trad.]
     我徒我御，我师我旅。 [Pre-Classical Chinese, simp.]

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

     Wǒ tú wǒ yù, wǒ shī wǒ lǚ.

     We went along on foot; we rode in our chariots; our 2500-strong regiment, and our 500-strong battalions.

2. (military) division; a large body of troops composing part of an army
3. army; troops; armed force
   • 4th cent. BC, 《竹書紀年》 (Bamboo Annals), s.v. "周宣王" (Xuan King):

     五年... 秋八月，方叔帥師伐荊蠻

     Year 5 ... Autumn, Month 8: "Uncle" Fang led a force to slaughter the Jingman.

4. to dispatch troops; to send troops
5. the masses; populace; general public
6. (historical) A former level of administrative division notionally covering 36,000 households or 1/12 of a province.

   • 八家為鄰，三鄰為朋，三朋為里，五里為邑，十邑為鄉，十鄉為都，十都為師，州十有二師焉。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     八家为邻，三邻为朋，三朋为里，五里为邑，十邑为乡，十乡为都，十都为师，州十有二师焉。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: circa 227, Zhang Yi, Guangya

     Bā jiā wéi lín, sān lín wéi péng, sān péng wéi lǐ, wǔ lǐ wéi yì, shí yì wéi xiāng, shí xiāng wéi dū, shí dū wéi shī, zhōu shí yǒu èr shī yān.

     8 families is a neighborhood, 3 neighborhoods is a community, 3 communities is a village, 5 villages is a town, 10 towns is a district, 10 districts is a prefecture, 12 prefectures is a province.

7. capital city; metropolis

   • 予惟乙卯，朝至于洛師。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     予惟乙卯，朝至于洛师。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Book of Documents, circa 7^th – 4^th centuries BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Yǔ wéi yǐmǎo, cháo zhì yú Luòshī.

     On the day Yi-mao, I came in the morning to this capital of Luo.

8. strategist; military adviser
9. leader; chief; commander; head; captain
10. teacher; instructor
11. master; expert; specialist
12. (Eastern Min) to be an expert in; adept at; capable
13. (Eastern Min) Respectful term of address for an expert in a trade or profession.
14. (religion) Respectful title for monks, nuns and Taoist priests.
15. (historical) musician
16. model; example; fine example (Can we add an example for this sense?)
17. to follow; to imitate; to follow the example of
18. “Army” (䷆): the seventh hexagram of the I Ching
19. a surname

Synonyms

• (military division): 師團／师团 (shītuán), (Dungan) дивизия (divizii͡a)

Compounds

Descendants

Others:

• → Vietnamese: thầy

References

• “師”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A01174

Japanese

Kanji

(grade 5 “Kyōiku” kanji)

1. teacher, master, one's mentor

   • 調(ちょう)理(り)师(し)法(ほう)（昭(しょう)和(わ)三(さん)十(じゅう)三(さん)年(ねん)法(ほう)律(りつ)㐧(だい)百(ひゃく)四(よん)十(じゅう)七(なな)号(ごう)）により調(ちょう)理(り)师(し)の免(めん)許(きょ)を与(あた)えるよってこの証(しょう)を交(こう)付(ふ)する

     Chōrishi-hō (Shōwa sanjūsan-nen hōritsu dai-hyakuyonjūnana-gō) ni yori chōrishi no menkyo o ataeru yotte kono shō o kōfu suru

     This proof will be issued by granting a license for a cook according to the Cooks Law (Showa 33 Act No. 147).

2. religious leader

Readings

• Go-on: し (shi, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: し (shi, Jōyō)
• Nanori: のし (noshi); のり (nori); もろ (moro); かず (kazu); つかさ (tsukasa); みつ (mitsu); もと (moto)

Compounds

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) し​ (Atamadaka – )
• IPA^(key):

Noun

師(し) • (shi) 

1. teacher, Reverend

Etymology 2

Proper noun

師(もろ) • (Moro) 

1. a surname

References

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 師 (MC srij). Recorded as Middle Korean ᄉᆞ (so) (Yale: so) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

師

Wikisource

師 (eumhun 스승 사 (seuseung sa))

1. Hanja form^? of 사 (“teacher; master; one's mentor”).
2. Hanja form^? of 사 (“(military) division; army”).

Compounds

References

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

Vietnamese

Han character

師: Hán Nôm readings: sư

1. teacher, master
2. respectful title for Buddhist monks and Buddhist nuns