TongTong
Sign in

大使 (dà shǐ) — ambassador

Definition

An ambassador (大使) is a state-appointed diplomat at the highest rank. 比 使者 more official and tied to a specific country's embassy; 使 in this sense is just the verb 'to send' and unrelated.

noun
ambassador
Measure word · 名, 位
Easily confused

Examples

  • 大使。
    Tā bèi rèn mìng wèi zhù fǎ dà shǐ.
    He was appointed ambassador to France.
  • 大使。
    dà shǐ Yǔ zǒng tǒng jìn xíng le yǒu hǎo huì tán.
    The ambassador held friendly talks with the president.
  • 大使。
    Zhè wèi dà shǐ dài biǎo wǒ guó chū xí le guó jì huì yì.
    This ambassador attended the international conference on behalf of our country.

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.

大dàsenior
使shǐenvoy

The first character means senior or great and the second means envoy; together they refer to an ambassador.

Characters in this word

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

The form 大 is a picture of a person standing and facing forward, not of someone stretching their arms.

Open 大 →

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
亻Written in full as人rén
Sound part声符shēngfú
吏
吏lì使shǐ
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

使 pairs 亻 (person) with 吏, which pictures a hand holding something like a flag, giving the sense of a representative or ambassador.

Open 使 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 6International & Diplomacy5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

Browse more HSK 6 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.