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道士 (dào shì) — Daoist priest or master; (historical) virtuous person; scholar-official with high moral standing

Definition

A Daoist priest or master — a religious practitioner of 道 (Daoism), not a Buddhist monk (和尚) or ordinary layperson. The historical sense 'virtuous scholar-official' is rare in modern Chinese.

noun
Daoist priest or master(historical) virtuous personscholar-official with high moral standing
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 道士。
    Zhè wèi dào shì zài shān shàng xiū xíng le hěn duō nián.
    This Daoist priest has practiced cultivation on the mountain for many years.
  • 。
    Cūn zi lǐ de rén dōu hěn zūn jìng nà wèi lǎo dào shì.
    The villagers all respect that old Daoist priest.
  • 道士。
    Gǔ dài xǔ duō dào shì jīng tōng yī shù hé liàn dān.
    Many Daoist priests in ancient times were proficient in medicine and alchemy.

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.

道dàoDao/way
士shìperson/scholar

道 names the Dao or Daoist path, and 士 names a person devoted to it, so together they mean a Daoist priest.

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
行行xíngstreet
止止zhǐfoot
Sound part声符shēngfú
𩠐
首shǒu道dào
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

Early 道 showed a street 行, a foot 止, and a part written 首 or 𩠐; the right part of 行 later disappeared.

Open 道 →

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
Religion & Belief

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