Dictionary🇨🇳 Chinese → 🇺🇸 English
先生
xiānsheng
Description
"先生"有两个常用的意思。一个是对成年男人的称呼，很像英文的"Mister"；另一个意思是老师。
"先生" has two common meanings. One is a form of address for adult men, similar to the English "Mister"; the other means teacher.
Meanings
先生xiānsheng
Mr.; sir (polite title for a man)
王先生，请喝茶。
Mr. Wang, please have some tea.
先生xiānsheng
teacher; master (in a field)
他是我的中文先生。
He is my Chinese teacher.
先生xiānsheng
husband (my/one's husband)
我先生在医院工作。
My husband works in a hospital.
Related words
Notes
- Etymology
先 (before/first) + 生 (born), literally "one born first," hence a respected elder or teacher.
- Nuance
as "Mr." it follows the surname (王先生); 老师 is now the more common word for teacher.
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