Characters Indicating People: 师, 生, 员, 家, 者 and 人

Abstract

The Chinese language has a number of characters which, when added to end of various nouns, verbs or adjectives, can form a noun indicating a person. The following article discusses the differences between six of these characters: 师, 生, 员, 家, 者 and 人.

Contents

Introduction
Common Measure Words for People: 个, 位, 名
1) The 师 Character
2) The 生 Character
3) The 员 Character
4) The 家 Character
5) The 者 Character
6) The 人 Character
Summary
References and Further Reading

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Introduction

The Chinese language has a number of characters which, when added to end of various nouns, verbs or adjectives, can form a noun indicating a person. For example, the character 人 can be placed after the noun 美国 (‘America’) to make the noun 美国人 (‘an American’) while the character 家 can be suffixed to the noun 画 (‘a painting’) to make the word 画家 (‘a painter’).

Some of these common characters indicating people are 师, 生, 员, 家, 者 and 人. This article will discuss the differences between these characters in detail and list some of the most commonly encountered derivations (i.e. words using these characters as suffixes to form new words) with reference to their HSK level.

Some English words may be translated using more than one of these characters; for example, 作家 and 作者 both mean ‘writer’. However, considered without reference to their derivations, 师, 生, 员, 家, 者 and 人 each have their own meanings. Understanding the differences between these characters may help a learner of Chinese better remember their derivations, as well as better prepare the learner for when unknown words are encountered in authentic texts.

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Common Measure Words for People: 个, 位, 名

In spoken Chinese, 个 is the most common measure word for people. The measure word 位 is more polite and therefore often encountered in more formal situations.

名 is a relatively impartial measure word for nouns indicating people, mostly encountered in written Chinese. The measure word 名 usually indicates a specific, not an approximate, number of people in a given situation.

In most cases, the measure words 个, 位 and 名 may be used with any person-related noun using 师, 生, 员, 家, 者 and 人.

Noun Phrase Examples using 个, 位 and 名	Meaning
一个美国人 两个服务员 三位老师 四位作家 五名共产党员 六名志愿者	an American two waiters three teachers four writers five Communist Party members six volunteers

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1) The 师 Character

The character 师 (pronounced shī), when applied as a suffix, can indicate either (1) a teacher, tutor or master, or (2) a person skilled or specialised in a certain profession. The word has connotations of “expertise” or “mastery” of something and carries a sense of respect.

Other words containing 师 often relate to military matters.

Students of Chinese usually first encounter 师 in the HSK1 word 老师 (meaning ‘teacher’). Students may next encounter 师 in the HSK4 words 律师 (meaning ‘lawyer’) or 师傅 – a polite term of address which has no culturally-comparable expression in English and is therefore usually awkwardly translated as ‘master worker’.

The next and only instance of 师 included in the HSK lists is the HSK6 noun 师范, meaning ‘teacher training’. (A school which trains teachers is a 师范学校, for example.)

Derivations using 师

The following words use 师 as a suffix to indicate a kind of ‘teacher’ or ‘instructor’:

Derivation using 师	Pin Yin	Definition(s)	HSK Level
老师 教师 讲师 导师 名师 大师	lǎoshī jiàoshī jiǎngshī dǎoshī míngshī dàshī	a teacher a teacher a lecturer a tutor; a teacher a famous master; a great teacher a great master	HSK1 – – – – –

The following words use 师 as a suffix to indicate ‘a person skilled in a certain profession’ (other than teaching):

Derivation using 师	Pin Yin	Definition(s)	HSK Level
律师 工程师 建筑师 厨师 技师 分析师 会计师	lǜshī gōngchéngshī jiànzhúshī chúshī jìshī fēnxīshī kuàijìshī	a lawyer an engineer an architect a chef a technician an analyst a treasurer; a chartered accountant	HSK4 HSK5 – – – – –

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2) The 生 Character

The character 生 (pronounced shēng) is usually first encountered by learners of Chinese as the suffix indicating a person in the HSK1 word 学生 (meaning ‘student’). Other HSK1 words with 生 include 医生 (‘doctor’) and 先生 (‘Mr.’).

With the exception of 先生 and 医生, as a suffix indicating a person, 生 usually relates to individuals who are engaged in some kind of study.

In the wider usage of the word, 生 has a wide variety of meanings and grammatical applications, but the term is often related to ‘life’ or ‘birth’. Beginner students of Chinese are likely to next encounter 生 used as a verb in the phrases 生病 (‘to become ill’), 生气 (‘to be angry’) and 生活 (‘to live’).

Derivations using 生

The following words use 生 as a suffix to indicate a kind of ‘student’:

Derivation using 生	Pin Yin	Definition(s)	HSK Level
学生 留学生 大学生 研究生 本科学生 小学生 中学生 高中学生 女生 男生	xuéshēng liúxuéshēng dàxuéshēng yánjiūshēng běnkēxuéshēng xiǎoxuéshēng zhōngxuéshēng gāozhōngxuéshēng nǚshēng nánshēng	a student a foreign student a university student a postgraduate student an undergraduate student a primary school student a middle school student a high school student a schoolgirl a schoolboy	HSK1 – – – – – – – – –

The following words use 生 as a suffix to indicate persons other than students:

Derivation using 生	Pin Yin	Definition(s)	HSK Level
先生 医生 实习生 考生 书生	xiānshēng yīshēng shíxíshēng kǎoshēng shūshēng	Mr. a doctor an intern an examination candidate a scholar; an intellectual	HSK1 HSK1 – – –

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3) The 员 Character

The character 员 (pronounced yuán), when applied as a suffix, can indicate either (1) a person engaged in a certain job or field of work or (2) a person who is a member of a certain team or organisation.

Beginner students will probably first encounter the character 员 in the HSK2 word 服务员 (meaning ‘waiter’ or ‘waitress’.) The character is next seen in the HSK4 words 演员 (‘actor’, ‘actress’ or ‘performer’) and 售货员 (‘shop assistant’).

Note that some words with 员 – for example, 人员, 工作人员 and 员工 – can mean ‘(work) staff’ or ‘personnel’ in general. The verb-object phrase 裁员 means ‘to cut staff’ or ‘to reduce staff’.

In the wider usage of the character, 员 may relate to military organisation and action. The verb-object phrase 动员 means ‘mobilize (troops)’, for example.

Derivations using 员

The following words use 员 as a suffix to indicate a ‘person engaged in a certain job or field of work’:

Derivation using 员	Pin Yin	Definition(s)	HSK Level
服务员 演员 售货员 售票员 飞行员 航天员 保安员 船员 海员 店员 教员 话务员 译员 专员 业务员 乘务员	fúwùyuán yǎnyuán shòuhuòyuán shòupiàoyuán fēixíngyuán hángtiānyuán bǎo’ānyuán chuányuán hǎiyuán diànyuán jiàoyuán huàwùyuán yìyuán zhuānyuán yèwù yuán chéngwùyuán	a waiter; a waitress a performer; an actor; an actress a shop assistant; a sales clerk a ticket collector; a booking office clerk a pilot; an aviator an astronaut a security guard a crew member; a sailor a sailor; a seaman a shop assistant; a shop clerk a teacher a telephone operator an interpreter an assistant director; a commissioner a salesperson an attendant (on a train, boat etc.)	HSK2 HSK4 HSK4 – – – – – – – – – – – – –

The following words use 员 as a suffix to indicate a kind of ‘team member’ or ‘member of an organisation’:

Derivation using 员	Pin Yin	Definition(s)	HSK Level
人员 成员 团员 委员 党员 共产党员 雇员 官员 会员 工会会员 学员 球员 议员 社员 要员	rényuán chéngyuán tuányuán wěiyuán dǎngyuán gòngchǎndǎngyuán gùyuán guānyuán huìyuán gōnghuìhuìyuán xuéyuán qiúyuán yìyuán shèyuán yàoyuán	a member; a staff member a member (of a group or family) a member (of a group, delegation, etc.) a committee member a member of a political party a Communist Party member an employee a government official; a government worker a member (of an organisation) a trade union member a student (of a college, training course, etc.) a member of a ball team a member of a legislative assembly a member (of a club, society, etc.) a key participant; an important official	HSK5 HSK6 – HSK6 – – – – – – – – – – –

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4) The 家 Character

The character 家 (pronounced jiā) has a wide range of meanings, but learners of Chinese will probably first encounter this word in the context of ‘family’ or ‘home’.

The character 家, when used as a suffix, can indicate a person’s occupation or profession. The noun 专家 (meaning ‘expert’) suggests that occupational roles using the suffix 家 require specialised skills or knowledge. In addition, other words with 家 as a suffix imply a person whom should be respected: The word 名家 indicates ‘a person of academic or artistic distinction’ whilst 行家 can be translated as ‘expert’ or ‘connoisseur’.

The word 学家, meaning scholar, can also act as a suffix to certain other nouns to indicate a person who is involved in scholarly research or work; for example, 经济学家 (‘an economist’) and 历史学家 (‘a historian’).

Derivations using 家

The following words use 家 as a suffix to indicate a person with a specialised occupation:

Derivation using 家	Pin Yin	Definition(s)	HSK Level
作家 专家 艺术家 画家 书法家 文学家 科学家 化学家	zuòjiā zhuānjiā yìshùjiā huàjiā shūfǎjiā wénxuéjiā kēxuéjiā huàxuéjiā	a writer; an author an expert an artist an artist a calligrapher a writer; a man of letters a scientist a chemist	HSK4 HSK5 – – – – – –

The following words use 学家 as a suffix to indicate a person involved in scholarly research or work:

Derivation using 家	Pin Yin	Definition(s)	HSK Level
学家 名家 行家 地理学家 经济学家 考古学家 历史学家 社会学家 数学家 语言学家 哲学家	xuéjiā míngjiā hángjiā dìlǐ xué jiā jīngjìxuéjiā kǎogǔxuéjiā lìshǐxuéjiā shèhuìxuéjiā shùxuéjiā yǔyánxuéjiā zhéxuéjiā	a scholar a person of academic or artistic distinction an expert; a connoisseur; an “old hand” a geographer an economist an archaeologist an historian a sociologist a mathematician a linguist a philosopher	– – – – – – – – – – –

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5) The 者 Character

The character 者 (pronounced zhě), when used as a suffix, can indicate (1) a person engaged in a type of work, (2) a person who adheres to a certain belief or ideology or (3) a person who is inclined to a certain activity or action or (4) a person (or organism or thing) which can be categorised in a group with certain characteristics.

Beginner students will probably first encounter the character 者 in the HSK3 conjunction 或者 (meaning ‘or’). 记者 and 作者, meaning ‘reporter’ and ‘writer’ respectively, are listed in HSK4.

There are an especially large number of person words with the suffix 者. This is mainly because of the pattern 主义者, which refers to someone who adheres to a certain belief or ideology, can be suffixed to a large number of nouns. For example, 完美 (‘perfect’) can be suffixed with 主义 (‘ideology’) and 者 to make the word 完美主义者 (‘a perfectionist’).

Derivations using 者

The following words use 者 as a suffix to indicate a ‘person engaged in a type of work’:

Derivation using 者	Pin Yin	Definition(s)	HSK Level
记者 作者 使者 音乐工作者	jìzhě zuòzhě shǐzhě yīnyuègōngzuòzhě	a reporter; a journalist a writer; an author an emissary; an envoy; a messenger a musician	HSK4 HSK4 – –

The following words use 者 as a suffix to indicate ‘a person who adheres to a certain belief or ideology’:

Derivation using 者	Pin Yin	Definition(s)	HSK Level
素食主义者 马克思主义者 社会主义者 完美主义者 理想主义者 现实主义者 个人主义者 和平主义者	sùshízhǔyìzhě mǎkèsīzhǔyìzhě shèhuìzhǔyìzhě wánměizhǔyìzhě lǐxiǎngzhǔyìzhě xiànshízhǔyìzhě gèrénzhǔyìzhě hépíngzhǔyìzhě	a vegetarian a Marxist a socialist a perfectionist an idealist a realist an individualist a pacifist	– – – – – – – –

The following words use 者 as a suffix to indicate ‘a person who is inclined to a certain activity or action’:

Derivation using 者	Pin Yin	Definition(s)	HSK Level
志愿者 患者 爱好者 消费者 生产者 读者 学者	zhìyuànzhě huànzhě àihàozhě xiāofèizhě shēngchǎnzhě dúzhě xuézhě	a volunteer a patient (at a hospital, etc.) a hobbiest; an enthusiast a consumer a producer (of goods, etc.) a reader (of a magazine, etc.) a scholar; a learned person	HSK5 HSK6 – – – – –

The following words use 者 as a suffix to indicate a ‘person which can be categorised in a group with certain characteristics’:

Derivation using 者	Pin Yin	Definition(s)	HSK Level
老者 强者 弱者	lǎozhě qiángzhě ruòzhě	an old person a strong person; a powerhouse a weak person; a weakling	– – –

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6) The 人 Character

The character 人 (pronounced rén) usually relates to ‘people’. It can be used as a standalone noun meaning ‘a person’.

Words with 人 applied as a suffix describe a type of person. Often the character 人 is added to an adjective (e.g. 老人 an old person, 男人 a male person, 穷人 a poor person).

As a general rule, 人 may also be added after the name of a country or region to indicate a person from that place. Thus 美国人 means ‘an American’ and 西班牙人 means ‘a Spanish person’. Similarly, 中国人 means ‘a Chinese person’ while 外国人 means ‘a foreigner’ (i.e. someone from outside of China.)

Derivations using 人

The following words use 人 as a suffix to indicate a person’s nationality or place of origin:

Derivation using 人	Pin Yin	Definition(s)	HSK Level
中国人 外国人 英国人 美国人 西班牙人 越南人 日本人 香港人 北京人	zhōngguórén wàiguórén yīngguórén měiguórén xībānyárén yuènánrén rìběnrén xiānggǎngrén běijīngrén	a Chinese person a foreigner (i.e. a non-Chinese person) an English person an American a Spanish person a Vietnamese person a Japanese person a person from Hong Kong a person from Beijing	– – – – – – – – –

The following words use 人 as a suffix to indicate a person’s relationship within a family structure:

Derivation using 人	Pin Yin	Definition(s)	HSK Level
亲人 家人 夫人 丈人 先人 爱人 情人 下人	qīnrén jiārén fūrén zhàngrén xiānrén àirén qíngrén xiàrén	a member of one’s family; a close relative a member of one’s family a lady; a wife (polite) a wife’s father; a father-in-law an ancestor a husband or wife; a lover a lover a domestic servant (old fashioned term)	– – HSK6 – – – – –

The following words use 人 as a suffix to indicate a type of person more generally:

Derivation using 人	Pin Yin	Definition(s)	HSK Level
工人 男人 女人 老人 年轻人 成人 大人 客人 主人 好人 坏人 穷人 富人 病人 行人 旁人 过路人 黑人 白人 陌生人 敌人 当事人 诗人 读书人 军人 创始人 代理人 投保人 主持人 收款人	gōngrén nánrén nǚrén lǎorén niánqīngrén chéngrén dàrén kèrén zhǔrén hǎorén huàirén qióngrén fùrén bìngrén xíngrén pángrén guòlù rén hēirén báirén mòshēngrén dírén dāngshìrén shīrén dúshūrén jūnrén chuàngshǐrén dàilǐrén tóubǎorén zhǔchírén shōukuǎnrén	a worker a man a woman an old person a young person an adult an adult a guest; a customer; a visitor a host a good person a bad person a poor person a rich person a sick person a pedestrian a bystander a passer-by a black person a white person a stranger an enemy a person involved in a certain affair a poet a reader a soldier; a serviceman a founder; an originator an agent; a proxy an insured person; an insurance policy holder a host (of a television show, etc.) a payee; a person who receives payment	HSK5 － － － － HSK5 – HSK5 – – – – – – HSK5 – – – – – HSK5 HSK6 – – – – – – – –

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Summary

Despite exceptions, words associated with 师, 生, 员, 家, 者 and 人 may be classified into groups usually relating to the original or standalone meaning of each character. Therefore, when considering words using these characters as suffixes indicating people, it may be useful for learners of Chinese to remember that (exceptions notwithstanding):

1) 师 usually refers to teachers or “masters”.
2) 生 usually refers to students.
3) 员 usually refers to occupations or members of teams or organisations.
4) 家 usually refers to persons with specialist or scholarly occupations.
5) 者 and 人 have a wide range of uses.

Learners should also be careful, however, not to associate all instances of 师, 生, 员, 家, 者 and 人 at the end of words or phrases with people-related terms. For example, 出师 means ‘to complete one’s apprenticeship’ or ‘dispatch troops to battle’, 发生 means ‘to happen’, 裁员 means ‘to cut staff’, 国家 means ‘country’, 或者 means ‘or’ and 丢人 means ‘to lose face’.

Nonetheless, by paying attention to the original or standalone meanings of 师, 生, 员, 家, 者 and 人, students of Chinese may more efficiently learn and understand nouns indicating people.

References and Further Reading

1. New Practical Chinese Reader (2013) Books 1-6.
2. 常用汉字组词搭配词典 (2011), p.352 (师), p.350 (生), p.473 (员), p.491 (者), p.331-332 (人).
3. 卓越汉语：公司实战篇 (2012).
4. Business Chinese: An Advanced Reader 商货汉语高级读本 (2004).
5. Chinese Measure Words Without Tears 汉语量词学习手册 (2010), p.129 (位), p.103 (名).
6. 现代汉语规范词典: 第3版 (2014), p.1183 (师), p.1172 (生), p.1619 (员), p.1669 (者), p.1102 (人).