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学士 (xué shì) — bachelor's degree; person holding a bachelor's degree

Definition

学士 refers to the bachelor's degree itself, or the person who holds it (e.g., 文学学士). 本科 is the adjectival/program sense — use 本科课程 'undergraduate program', not 学士课程.

noun
bachelor's degreeperson holding a bachelor's degree
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 学士。
    Tā zhèng zài gōng dú xué shì xué wèi.
    He is currently pursuing a bachelor's degree.
  • 学士。
    Tā shì yì míng wén xué xué shì.
    She is a Bachelor of Arts.
  • 学士？
    xué shì Hé shuò shì de qū bié shì shén me?
    What is the difference between a bachelor's and a master's?

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.

学xuélearning
士shìscholar

学 is learning and 士 is a scholar, so 学士 is a learned scholar or degree holder.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 學; 学 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 學 may have used 爻 and 六 for sound, with hands and a child added later; the simplified 学 is a shorthand.

Open 学 →

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.

Open 士 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Exams & GradesSchool & Education

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