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博士 (bó shì) — Ph.D.; doctorate (degree or holder)

Definition

博士 (bóshì) means 'Ph.D.' — the academic degree or its holder. Unlike 医生/大夫, which mean a medical doctor, 博士 refers to a doctoral scholar.

noun
Ph.D.doctorate (degree or holder)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 博士。
    Tā shì wǒ men xué xiào zuì nián qīng de bó shì.
    He is the youngest Ph.D. in our school.
  • 博士。
    Wǒ dǎ suàn dú wán bó shì jiù qù zhǎo gōng zuò.
    I plan to look for a job after I finish my Ph.D. and then look for a job.
  • 博士。
    Tā huā le wǔ nián shí jiān cái ná dào bó shì xué wèi.
    It took her five years to get her Ph.D. degree.

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.

博bóbroad
士shìscholar

Broad learning and scholar combine to mean a learned person or degree holder.

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
十十shíten
Sound part声符shēngfú
尃
尃fū博
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The shape comes from combining 十 (ten) with 尃; 尃 gives the sound.

Open 博 →

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 4HSK 2.0 Level 41000 Most Frequent Chinese WordsExams & GradesSchool & Education2000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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