先生

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Chinese

early; prior; former
early; prior; former; in advance; first
 
to be born; to give birth; life
to be born; to give birth; life; to grow; student; raw
 
simp. and trad.
(先生)
Literally: “one who was born earlier”.
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Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation


Note: When following a surname, it is read in the neutral tone.
    • (Teochew)
      • Peng'im: sing1 sên1 / sêng1 sên1
      • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: sing seⁿ / seng seⁿ
      • Sinological IPA (key): /siŋ³³⁻²³ sẽ³³/, /seŋ³³⁻²³ sẽ³³/
Note: sêng1 sên1 - Jieyang.

Rime
Character
Reading # 1/2 1/2
Initial () (16) (21)
Final () (85) (109)
Tone (調) Level (Ø) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open Open
Division () IV II
Fanqie
Baxter sen sraeng
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/sen/ /ʃˠæŋ/
Pan
Wuyun
/sen/ /ʃᵚaŋ/
Shao
Rongfen
/sɛn/ /ʃaŋ/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/sɛn/ /ʂaɨjŋ/
Li
Rong
/sen/ /ʃɐŋ/
Wang
Li
/sien/ /ʃɐŋ/
Bernard
Karlgren
/sien/ /ʂɐŋ/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
xiān shēng
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex
sin1 sang1
BaxterSagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character
Reading # 1/2 1/3 3/3
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
xiān shēng shēng
Middle
Chinese
‹ sen › ‹ sræng › ‹ srjæng ›
Old
Chinese
/*sˁər/ /*sreŋ/ (MC srj- > sr-; or *s.reŋ ?) /*sreŋ/ (or *s.reŋ ?)
English first bear, be born; live bear, be born; live

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. * as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character
Reading # 1/2 1/2
No. 13458 11312
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
1 0
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*sɯːn/ /*sʰleːŋ/

Noun

先生

  1. An honorific for adults, usually conferred on males: mister; sir; gentleman
    先生先生 [Taiwanese Mandarin]  ―  Wáng xiānshēng lái le.   ―  Mr. Wang has come.
    先生 [Hokkien, trad.]
    先生 [Hokkien, simp.]
    Ông--sian-seⁿ lâi--ah. [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]
    Mr. Ong has come.
    先生原單位派遣連鎖公司工作 [MSC, trad.]
    先生原单位派遣连锁公司工作 [MSC, simp.]
    Chén xiānsheng bèi yuándānwèi pàiqiǎn dào liánsuǒ gōngsī gōngzuò.
    Mr. Chen was sent by his former organization to work at a chain company.
  2. husband
  3. (literal, Classical) one who was born earlier
  4. (literary) father and elder brother
  5. (literary) ancestor
  6. (literary) Taoist priest
  7. (Gan, Hakka, Min, dated in Mandarin and Jin) doctor
  8. (honorific in Mandarin, Jin; common in Cantonese, Gan, Hakka, Min) teacher
    先生學生恬恬 [Hokkien, trad.]
    先生学生恬恬 [Hokkien, simp.]
    Sian-siⁿ kóng, ha̍k-seng tiām-tiām thiaⁿ. [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]
    The teacher speaks, and the students silently listen.
  9. (obsolete or Wu) female prostitute
  10. (Singapore Hokkien) traditional Chinese physician

Usage notes

Some females are also referred with the term 先生, however, this term is reserved for older and highly respected ones only, e.g. Soong Ching-ling, He Xiangning and Yang Jiang. For most instances 女士 (nǚshì, Ms.) is used. Whether this term can be used for females is still a topic being debated among scholars.

Synonyms

  • (husband):
  • (Taoist priest):
  • (doctor):
  • (teacher):
  • (female prostitute):

Derived terms

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (先生):

Others:

See also

References

Japanese

Etymology 1

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

From Middle Chinese 先生 (MC sen|senH sraeng|sraengH, literally “born earlier”).

Pronunciation

Noun

(せん)(せい) (sensei

  1. an elder
  2. a scholar
  3. a teacher or a professor
    • 1984 February 20 [1983 June 15], Motoka Murakami, “()(かん)()()(まき) [A Season Full of Emotions]”, in ()()()(けん) [Musashi’s Sword], 4th edition, volume 10 (fiction), Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN, pages 161–162:
      (がっ)(こう)のみんなも(せん)(せい)のことさ()いてる……()っちゃすきか⁉
      Gakkō no minna mo Sensei no koto sa suiteru…… Katcha suki ka⁉
      Everybody at school likes Sensei…… Ya like him, Ma⁉
      もちろん()きよ‼ほんとにいい(せん)(せい)ですもの…
      Mochiron suki yo‼ Honto ni ii sensei desu mono…
      Of course‼ He’s a very good teacher…
      オラもすきだあ。んでも、(せん)(せい)(せん)(せい)だあ…オラの()っちゃにはなれねえ!
      Ora mo suki dā. N demo, Sensei wa Sensei dā… Ora no totcha ni wa narenē!
      Ah like him, too. But Sensei’s only Sensei… He could never be mah pa!
      え…⁉それ…ひょっとして、(わたくし)()()(がし)(せん)(せい)(けっ)(こん)するってこと……⁉
      E…⁉ Sore… hyotto shite, watakushi to Yaegashi Sensei ga kekkon surutte koto……⁉
      What…⁉ Wait… You think I’m gonna marry Yaegashi Sensei……⁉
  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.
  • This is an example of a word that can be spelled with katakana to convey an informal conversational tone, as センセー.
Derived terms
Descendants

Suffix

(せん)(せい) (-sensei

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

See also

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
しぇん
Grade: 1
しぇい
Grade: 1
irregular

Noun

(しぇん)(しぇい) (shenshei

  1. (Hakata) teacher, professor

References

  1. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  • 2002, Ineko Kondō; Fumi Takano; Mary E Althaus; et. al., Shogakukan Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary, Third Edition, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, →ISBN.

Korean

Hanja in this term

Noun

先生 (seonsaeng) (hangeul 선생)

  1. hanja form? of 선생 (teacher)

Okinawan

Kanji in this term
しん
Grade: 1
しー
Grade: 1
on'yomi

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 先生 (MC sen|senH sraeng|sraengH). Cognate with Japanese 先生 (sensei), Korean 선생 (seonsaeng), Jeju 선싕 (seonsuing).

Noun

(しん)(しー) (shinshī

  1. teacher

Vietnamese

chữ Hán Nôm in this term

Noun

先生

  1. chữ Hán form of tiên sinh.