司机 (sī jī) — driver | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A 司机 is the person who drives a vehicle as their job. Unlike 车主 (the vehicle's owner), a 司机 does not necessarily own the car.

noun

driver

Measure word · 个

Easily confused

伺机sì jīlook-aliketo wait for an opportunity, to watch for one's chance

Examples

司机。
Nà wèi sī jī kāi chē hěn ān quán.
That driver drives very safely.
司机。
Zhè ge sī jī měi tiān gōng zuò hěn xīn kǔ.
This driver works hard every day.
司机。
Zhè wèi sī jī kāi le shí nián chē.
This driver has been driving for ten years.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

司sīmanage; operate

机jīmachine

The part 司 means manage or operate, and 机 refers to a machine, so the word names someone who operates a vehicle.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The evidence is inconclusive: one suggestion sees 司 as a mouth giving orders beside a mark of authority, another reads that mark as a hand, and another sees it as a reversed older form.

Open 司 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

木几机

Meaning part形符xíngfú

木木mùtree; wood

Sound part声符shēngfú

几

几jǐ机jī

Same sound today

The left part is 木 (tree; wood), and the right part 几 gives the sound.

Open 机 →

Appears in