高僧 (gāo sēng) — eminent monk (Buddhist, highly accomplished in practice and wisdom)

Definition

A highly accomplished Buddhist monk, distinguished by long practice and wisdom. 高 prefixes the monk term 僧 to signal eminence — literally 'eminent monk'.

noun
eminent monk (Buddhist, highly accomplished in practice and wisdom)
Measure word · 位

Examples

  • 高僧。
    Zhè zuò sì miào céng jīng yǒu yí wèi zhù míng de gāo sēng.
    This temple once had a famous eminent monk.
  • 高僧。
    gāo sēng De zhì huì yǐng xiǎng le hěn duō rén.
    The wisdom of the eminent monk influenced many people.
  • 高僧。
    Zhè wèi gāo sēng xiū xíng le wǔ shí nián.
    This eminent monk has practiced for fifty years.

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.

高gāohigh
僧sēngmonk

高 means high and 僧 means monk, so an eminent monk.

Characters in this word

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

高 was drawn as a tall building.

Open 高 →

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rénperson
Sound part声符shēngfú
曾
曾céng僧sēng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The left 亻 shows a person, and the right 曾 supplies the sound, so 僧 marks a kind of person.

Open 僧 →

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