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人士 (rén shì) — person (formal, used in compounds and set phrases to indicate a figure or personage of a specific category)

Definition

A formal, written word meaning 'person' in a category (e.g. 政府人士, 有关人士). It refers to people by role, not fame — use 人物 for important figures or literary characters.

noun
person (formal, used in compounds and set phrases to indicate a figure or personage of a specific category)
Measure word · 位
Easily confused

Examples

  • 人士。
    Gè jiè rén shì dōu cān jiā le zhè cì huì yì.
    People from all walks of life attended this meeting.
  • 人士。
    Yí wèi zhèng fǔ rén shì jiē shòu le jì zhě de cǎi fǎng.
    A government figure accepted an interview with reporters.
  • 人士。
    Yǒu guān rén shì duì cǐ shì fā biǎo le kàn fǎ.
    Relevant parties expressed their views on this matter.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

人rénperson
士shìpersonage

人 and 士 both refer to persons, together naming a figure or public person.

Characters in this word

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

The shape of 人 shows a side view of a standing person, with an arm and a leg.

Open 人 →

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 6HSK 2.0 Level 6People (General)5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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