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大夫 (dài fu) — doctor

Definition

大夫 (dàifu) is the everyday spoken word for 'doctor'. It's casual and common in conversation; 医生 is more neutral and used in writing. Do not confuse with 博士 ('Ph.D.') or 先生 ('Mr.').

noun
doctor
Measure word · 位

Examples

  • ，大夫。
    Wǒ shēng bìng le, suǒ yǐ qù kàn le dài fu.
    I got sick, so I went to see the doctor.
  • 大夫。
    dài fu Gào sù wǒ měi tiān chī sān cì yào.
    The doctor told me to take medicine three times a day.
  • 大夫。
    Zhè wèi dài fu hěn guān xīn bìng rén.
    This doctor cares a lot about patients.

Origin

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.

大dàgreat
夫fūman

大 (great) and 夫 (man) combine to refer to a doctor, originally a high official.

Characters in this word

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

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

Open 大 →

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

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

夫 originally drew a man. It was borrowed purely for its sound to write a pronoun, so the picture and the pronoun meaning are unrelated.

Open 夫 →
Appears in
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