门生 (mén shēng) — pupil, disciple, follower

Definition

A literary/formal word for 'disciple' — someone who studies directly under a master or scholar, emphasizing the teacher–student lineage. Tone is much more classical and reverential than the everyday 学生.

noun
pupildisciplefollower
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 门生，。
    Zhè wèi dà xué zhě yǒu hěn duō mén shēng, biàn bù quán guó gè dì.
    This great scholar has many disciples spread all over the country.
  • 门生。
    Kǒng zǐ de mén shēng jì chéng le tā de sī xiǎng bìng jiā yǐ fā zhǎn.
    Confucius's disciples inherited his thoughts and developed them further.
  • ，。
    Tā zuò wéi lǎo shī de dé yì mén shēng, bèi shòu zūn zhòng.
    As the teacher's favored disciple, he was highly respected.

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.

门méngate
生shēngstudent

门 is the teacher's gate or school and 生 is a student, so it means a pupil of that teacher.

Characters in this word

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 門; 门 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 門 pictures a gate as two door shapes side by side; the simplified 门 is a later shorthand.

Open 门 →

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.

Open 生 →

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