Dictionary › 先生

先生

xiān sheng

Old HSK 1 HSK 3.0 level 1 2-character word Measure word 位

先生 (xiān sheng) means "Mr.; sir; gentleman". It is an HSK 3.0 level 1 word, and was HSK 1 in the old six-level list.

What 先生 means

1. teacher
2. gentleman; sir; mister (Mr.)
3. husband
4. dialectdoctor

The characters in 先生

• 先xiānbeforehand; first; earlier; at first; originally; for the time being; for now
• 生shēngto grow; to give birth; to produce; to be born; to arise; to occur; to light (a fire)

Example sentences

• 谢谢您，先生。
  Thank you, sir.
• 王先生是中国人。
  Mr Wang is from China.
• 王先生来自中国。
  Mr Wang is from China.
• 这位是安田先生。
  This is Mr Yasuda.
• 这是史密斯先生。
  This is Mr. Smith.
• 史密斯先生来了。
  Mr. Smith came.

Words containing 先生

• 算命先生suàn mìng xiān shengfortune-teller
• 风水先生fēng shuǐ xiān shengfeng shui master; geomancer; stock figure in folk tales, as a wise adviser or a charlatan
• 好好先生hǎo hǎo xiān shengMr Goody-goody; yes-man (sb who agrees with anything)
• 德先生Dé xiān sheng"Mr Democracy", phrase used during the May 4th Movement 五四运动; abbr. for 德谟克拉西…
• 赛先生Sài xiān sheng"Mr Science", phrase used during the May 4th Movement 五四运动; abbr. for 赛因斯; see also 德先生
• 账房先生zhàng fáng xiān shengbookkeeper (old)
• 憨豆先生Hān dòu Xiān shengMr. Bean (TV)
• 缠夹二先生chán jiā èr xiān shengannoying muddle-headed person who gabbles unintelligibly

Where 先生 is taught

In the GraphChinese course it is part of School, Work and Study (HSK 1), each one a topic in the dependency graph of HSK 1–6 that opens only once its prerequisites are solid.

Go deeper

• Every HSK 1 word, with the rest of its level.
• The four tones and the neutral tone, to read xiān sheng correctly.
• Look up another word in the free dictionary.