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侍者 (shì zhě) — waiter (in a restaurant or hotel); attendant, servant (in a formal or historical context); (Buddhism) attendant monk

Definition

A formal word for someone who serves another — a waiter in a restaurant, or an attendant in historical/religious settings. It sounds more literary than everyday 服务员 and takes the respectful measure word 位.

noun
waiter (in a restaurant or hotel)attendantservant (in a formal or historical context)(Buddhism) attendant monk
Measure word · 位

Examples

  • 侍者，。
    Yí wèi shì zhě zǒu guò lái, lǐ mào dì wèn wǒ men xū yào shén me.
    A waiter came over and politely asked what we needed.
  • ，侍者。
    Zài gǔ dài gōng tíng zhōng, shì zhě bì xū shí kè bǎo chí gōng jìng.
    In ancient palaces, attendants had to remain respectful at all times.
  • 侍者。
    Nà wèi gāo sēng shēn biān yǒu liǎng wèi shì zhě cháng nián fú shì.
    That senior monk has two attendant monks serving him year-round.

Origin

Derived word
构词法gòucífǎ
后缀hòuzhuìSuffix

A fixed syllable at the end that turns the word into a noun, a person, a place or the like.

侍shìattend
者zhěperson

侍 (to attend) combined with 者 gives the person who attends.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
⺅Written in full as人rénperson
Sound part声符shēngfú
寺
寺sì侍shì
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

侍 has 人 (person) paired with 寺, which gives the sound.

Open 侍 →

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

The form 者 originally drew a sugarcane with full stems, small points around it, and an open smiling mouth at the bottom.

Open 者 →
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