博士生 (bó shì shēng) — doctoral candidate, PhD student

Definition

noun

doctoral candidatePhD student

Measure word · 个

博士生，。
Tā shì yì míng bó shì shēng, zhèng zài xiě bì yè lùn wén.
He is a doctoral candidate, currently writing his dissertation.
博士生。
Zhè ge shí yàn shì yǒu wǔ gè bó shì shēng.
This lab has five PhD students.
博士生。
bó shì shēng De xué xí yā lì hěn dà.
The study pressure for doctoral candidates is very high.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

博士doctorate

博bóbroad/learned士shìscholar

偏正Modifier + head

“博士” (doctorate) specifies the “生” (student), making a doctoral student.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

十尃博

Meaning part形符xíngfú

Sound part声符shēngfú

尃

尃fū博

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The shape comes from combining 十 (ten) with 尃; 尃 gives the sound.

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape 士 comes from a simple drawing of a war axe. The character later came to mean a soldier, officer, or intellectual.

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

生 shows 屮 (a bud) above 一 (the ground), drawing a sprout coming up from the earth.