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院士 (yuàn shì) — academician; fellow of an academy

Definition

A member elected to a national academy of sciences (e.g. Chinese Academy of Sciences) — a formal title earned by senior researchers, distinct from the broader 学者 ('scholar').

noun
academicianfellow of an academy
Measure word · 位

Examples

  • 院士。
    Zhè wèi yuàn shì zài wù lǐ xué lǐng yù gòng xiàn hěn dà.
    This academician has made great contributions in the field of physics.
  • ，院士。
    Tā jīn nián bā shí suì, shì yí wèi dé gāo wàng zhòng de yuàn shì.
    He is eighty years old this year and is a highly respected academician.
  • 院士。
    Hěn duō yuàn shì dōu cān yù le zhè cì kē yán xiàng mù.
    Many academicians participated in this research project.

Origin

Derived word
构词法gòucífǎ
后缀hòuzhuìSuffix

A fixed syllable at the end that turns the word into a noun, a person, a place or the like.

院yuànacademy
士shìperson

院 names the academy and 士 denotes a person, so it means a person belonging to an academy.

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
阝Written in full as阜fù
Sound part声符shēngfú
完
完wán院yuàn
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

院 is built from 阝, written in full as 阜, and 完, which gives the sound.

Open 院 →

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 7-9

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.