DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

士

Mandarin · pinyin shì#

member of the senior ministerial class (old)
scholar (old)
bachelor
honorific
soldier
noncommissioned officer
specialist worker

Mandarin · pinyin Shì#

surname Shi

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

士: shì · scholar, gentleman; soldier

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

4 · shi4

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

1character link96same-tone records

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

士 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗

Compare dictionary sources Rime · Wiktionary

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

si6

Cantonese word readings for 士. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

character · Etymology 1

(obsolete) unmarried male; bachelor
(obsolete, honorific) man
(obsolete) general; high-ranking military officer
(obsolete) soldier; noncommissioned officer
(historical) (from the Shang dynasty 商朝 through to the Late Warring States period 戰國時代) shì were men of the lowest rank of nobility, who were educated in the liù yì 六藝 (Six Arts) and drove war chariots in battle
(historical) scholar-official (civil servant appointed by the emperor of China to perform day-to-day governance)
(historical) self-appellation used by scholar-officials in ancient China, when addressing the emperor: I; subject
(historical) a social stratum in ancient China
scholar; academic; intellectual; intelligentsia
(honorific, obsolete) suffix for a virtuous, knowledgeable or skilled person: commendable person
(xiangqi) adviser; guard; minister: 🩨 (usually only on the black side, in some sets on both red and black sides)
(obsolete) alternative form of 仕 (shì, “to be an official”)
a surname

character · Etymology 2

(music) Cantonese opera gongche notation for the note low la (6̣).

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack