医士 (yī shì) — herb doctor (traditional Chinese medicine practitioner); doctor's assistant or practitioner with secondary medical-school training

Definition

A traditional/lay term for a practitioner with basic medical training — a 'herb doctor' in Chinese medicine, or a secondary-tier medical assistant below a full 医生. Largely a historical/Republic-era usage.

noun
herb doctor (traditional Chinese medicine practitioner)doctor's assistant or practitioner with secondary medical-school training
Easily confused

Examples

  • 医士。
    Zhè wèi yī shì yòng cǎo yào zhì hǎo le wǒ de bìng.
    This herb doctor cured my illness with herbal medicine.
  • 医士，。
    Tā zài yī yuàn lǐ zuò yī shì, xié zhù zhǔ zhì yī shēng.
    He works as a doctor's assistant in the hospital, helping the attending physician.
  • ，医士。
    Mín guó shí qī, yī shì shì jīng guò chū jí yī xué xùn liàn de xíng yī zhě.
    During the Republic of China period, a 医士 was a practitioner who had received basic medical training.

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.

医yīmedicine
士shìperson

医 gives the medical work and 士 gives the person, so it names a medical practitioner.

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 醫; 医 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
酉酉yǒuliquor
Sound part声符shēngfú
殹
殹yì醫yī
Same sound today

The traditional form 醫 pairs 酉 (liquor) with 殹 as a sound part; the simplified 医 is a shorthand, so its parts are not the historical ones.

Open 医 →

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 →

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