Chinese edit

 
early; prior; former
early; prior; former; in advance; first
 
to be born; to give birth; life
to be born; to give birth; life; to grow; student; raw
simp. and trad.
(先生)
Literally: “one who was born earlier”.
 
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Pronunciation edit


Note: When following a surname, it is read in the neutral tone.

Rime
Character
Reading # 1/2 1/2
Initial () (16) (21)
Final () (85) (109)
Tone (調) Level (Ø) Level (Ø)
Openness (開合) Open Open
Division () IV II
Fanqie
Baxter sen sraeng
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/sen/ /ʃˠæŋ/
Pan
Wuyun
/sen/ /ʃᵚaŋ/
Shao
Rongfen
/sɛn/ /ʃaŋ/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/sɛn/ /ʂaɨjŋ/
Li
Rong
/sen/ /ʃɐŋ/
Wang
Li
/sien/ /ʃɐŋ/
Bernard
Karlgren
/sien/ /ʂɐŋ/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
xiān shēng
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex
sin1 sang1
BaxterSagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character
Reading # 1/2 1/3 3/3
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
xiān shēng shēng
Middle
Chinese
‹ sen › ‹ sræng › ‹ srjæng ›
Old
Chinese
/*sˁər/ /*sreŋ/ (MC srj- > sr-; or *s.reŋ ?) /*sreŋ/ (or *s.reŋ ?)
English first bear, be born; live bear, be born; live

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character
Reading # 1/2 1/2
No. 13458 11312
Phonetic
component
Rime
group
Rime
subdivision
1 0
Corresponding
MC rime
Old
Chinese
/*sɯːn/ /*sʰleːŋ/

Noun edit

先生

  1. An honorific for adults, usually conferred on males: mister; sir; gentleman
    先生先生 [Taiwanese Mandarin]  ―  Wáng xiānshēng lái le. [Pinyin]  ―  Mr. Wang has come.
    先生先生 [Hokkien]  ―  Ông--sian-seⁿ lâi--ah. [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  Mr. Ong has come.
    先生原單位派遣連鎖公司工作 [MSC, trad.]
    先生原单位派遣连锁公司工作 [MSC, simp.]
    Chén xiānsheng bèi yuándānwèi pàiqiǎn dào liánsuǒ gōngsī gōngzuò. [Pinyin]
    Mr. Chen was sent by his former organization to work at a chain company.
  2. husband
  3. (literal, Classical Chinese) one who was born earlier
  4. (literary) father and elder brother
  5. (literary) ancestor
  6. (literary) Taoist priest
  7. (Gan, Hakka, Min, dated in Mandarin and Jin) doctor
  8. (honorific in Mandarin, Jin; common in Cantonese, Gan, Hakka, Min) teacher
    先生學生恬恬 [Hokkien, trad.]
    先生学生恬恬 [Hokkien, simp.]
    Sian-siⁿ kóng, ha̍k-seng tiām-tiām thiaⁿ. [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]
    The teacher speaks, and the students silently listen.
  9. (obsolete or Wu) female prostitute
  10. (Singapore Hokkien) traditional Chinese physician

Usage notes edit

Some females are also referred with the term 先生, however, this term is reserved for older and highly respected ones only, e.g. Soong Ching-ling, He Xiangning and Yang Jiang. For most instances 女士 (nǚshì, Ms.) is used. Whether this term can be used for females is still a topic being debated among scholars.

Synonyms edit

  • (husband):
  • (Taoist priest):
  • (doctor):
  • (teacher):
  • (female prostitute):

Derived terms edit

Descendants edit

Sino-Xenic (先生):

Others:

See also edit

References edit

Japanese edit

Etymology 1 edit

Kanji in this term
せん
Grade: 1
せい
Grade: 1
kan’on

From Middle Chinese 先生 (MC sen|senH sraeng|sraengH, literally “born earlier”).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

(せん)(せい) (sensei

  1. an elder
  2. a scholar
  3. a teacher or a professor
    • 1984 February 20 [1983 June 15], Motoka Murakami, “()(かん)()()(まき)”, in ()()()(けん), 4th edition, volume 10 (fiction), Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN, pages 161–162:
      (がっ)(こう)のみんなも(せん)(せい)のことさ()いてる……()っちゃすきか⁉
      Gakkō no minna mo Sensei no koto sa suiteru…… Katcha suki ka⁉
      Everybody at school likes Sensei…… Ya like him, Ma⁉
      もちろん()きよ‼ほんとにいい(せん)(せい)ですもの…
      Mochiron suki yo‼ Honto ni ii sensei desu mono…
      Of course‼ He’s a very good teacher…
      オラもすきだあ。んでも、(せん)(せい)(せん)(せい)だあ…オラの()っちゃにはなれねえ!
      Ora mo suki dā. N demo, Sensei wa Sensei dā… Ora no totcha ni wa narenē!
      Ah like him, too. But Sensei’s only Sensei… He could never be mah pa!
      え…⁉それ…ひょっとして、(わたくし)()()(がし)(せん)(せい)(けっ)(こん)するってこと……⁉
      E…⁉ Sore… hyotto shite, watakushi to Yaegashi Sensei ga kekkon surutte koto……⁉
      What…⁉ Wait… You think I’m gonna marry Yaegashi Sensei……⁉
  4. sensei (Japanese martial arts teacher)
  5. sir, a polite form of address to teachers, doctors, etc.
Usage notes edit
  • This is a term of respect, reserved only for speaking about others, and considered somewhat impolite (immodest) to use when referring to oneself. Instead, the term 教師 (kyōshi, teacher, literally teaching + teacher) is considered more socially appropriate when referring to oneself.
  • This is an example of a word that can be spelled with katakana to convey an informal conversational tone, as センセー.
Derived terms edit
Descendants edit

Suffix edit

(せん)(せい) (-sensei

  1. a title used after the name of teachers, doctors, lawyers, or certain other professionals

See also edit

Etymology 2 edit

Kanji in this term
しぇん
Grade: 1
しぇい
Grade: 1
irregular

Noun edit

(しぇん)(しぇい) (shenshei

  1. (dialect, Hakata) teacher, professor

References edit

  1. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006) 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  • 2002, Ineko Kondō; Fumi Takano; Mary E Althaus; et. al., Shogakukan Progressive Japanese-English Dictionary, Third Edition, Tokyo: Shōgakukan, →ISBN.

Korean edit

Hanja in this term

Noun edit

先生 (seonsaeng) (hangeul 선생)

  1. Hanja form? of 선생 (teacher).

Okinawan edit

Kanji in this term
しん
Grade: 1
しー
Grade: 1
on’yomi

Etymology edit

From Middle Chinese 先生 (MC sen|senH sraeng|sraengH). Cognate with Japanese 先生 (sensei), Korean 선생 (seonsaeng), Jeju 선싕 (seonsuing).

Noun edit

(しん)(しー) (shinshī

  1. teacher

Vietnamese edit

chữ Hán Nôm in this term

Noun edit

先生

  1. chữ Hán form of tiên sinh.