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导师 (dǎo shī) — academic advisor; supervisor (for graduate students); mentor; guide (in life or career)

Definition

导师 (dǎoshī) is an academic advisor or thesis supervisor for graduate students, not a classroom teacher. Unlike 老师 (everyday teacher) or 教师 (the formal profession), 导师 specifically guides a student through research and a thesis.

noun
academic advisorsupervisor (for graduate students)mentorguide (in life or career)
Measure word · 位

Examples

  • 导师。
    Bó shì dǎo shī zhǐ dǎo wǒ wán chéng lùn wén.
    My doctoral advisor guided me to complete my thesis.
  • 导师，。
    Tā shì wǒ men de rén shēng dǎo shī, jiào huì wǒ men hěn duō dào lǐ.
    He is our life mentor, teaching us many principles.
  • 导师。
    Zhè wèi dǎo shī duì xué shēng fēi cháng yán gé.
    This advisor is very strict with students.

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.

导dǎoguide
师shīteacher

导 points to guiding and 师 to a teacher; together they mean a guiding teacher.

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 導; 导 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
寸寸cùnhand
Sound part声符shēngfú
道
道dào導
Same sound today

The traditional form 導 pairs 道 (path) as the sound part with 寸 (hand), giving the sense of leading someone. The simplified 导 is a later shorthand, so its parts are not the historical components.

Open 导 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 師; 师 is its simplified writing.

  • 𠂤𠂤𠂤
  • 帀帀zā

The traditional form 師 combines 𠂤 and 帀; the simplified 师 is not the form explained here.

Open 师 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 6School & Education

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