教师 jiàoshī teacher
How to remember 教师: 教 teach + 师 teacher = teacher.
Characters
How it is used
- Formal, written/professional term for 'teacher' - used as a job title and in official contexts, e.g. 教师节 (Jiàoshī Jié), Teachers' Day.
- In daily speech and when addressing someone directly, 老师 (lǎoshī) is what's actually used - 教师 shows up on forms, in news, and in institutional writing, not as a form of address.
- 教 is read jiào here, matching 教学 and 教育, not the verb reading jiāo.
Example sentences
- 他是教师。 Tā shì jiàoshī.He is a teacher.
- 她是女教师。 Tā shì nǚ jiàoshī.She is a teacher.
- 他不是医生，他是教师。 Tā búshì yīshēng, tā shì jiàoshī.He is not a doctor but a teacher.