夫子 (fū zi) — Master (historically, a respectful term for Confucius or a Confucian teacher); pedant (modern colloquial, often sarcastic); (classical) husband; my husband

Definition

A classical and literary term with three main uses: a respectful address for Confucius or a Confucian teacher (孔夫子 = Master Kong), a sarcastic modern label for a 'pedant' who moralizes, and in classical prose a wife's word for 'my husband'.

noun
Master (historically, a respectful term for Confucius or a Confucian teacher)pedant (modern colloquial, often sarcastic)(classical) husbandmy husband
Easily confused

Examples

  • 夫子。
    Kǒng fū zi shì zhōng guó gǔ dài zuì wěi dà de sī xiǎng jiā.
    Master Kong (Confucius) was the greatest thinker of ancient China.
  • ，。
    Bié lǎo xiàng gè lǎo fū zi yí yàng shuō jiào, méi rén ài tīng.
    Don't keep preaching like an old pedant — no one wants to hear it.
  • ，“夫子”，“夫子”。
    Gǔ wén zhōng, "fū zi" yǒu shí zhǐ zhàng fu, rú "huàn fū zi bú zhì".
    In classical texts, 夫子 sometimes means ‘husband’, as in 'called for her husband but he didn't come.'

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.

夫fūthat
子zǐmaster

夫 meaning that and 子 meaning master combine into a title for a teacher or pedant.

Characters in this word

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 →

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

子 is drawn as a baby with a large head, arms stretched out, and legs wrapped in a blanket.

Open 子 →

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