仕

shì

verb #23,722

Meanings

1 to serve as an official
2 to take up a government post

Characters

仕

shì

to serve as an official; official

Examples

他年轻时出仕，为国效力。

Tā niánqīng shí chū shì, wèi guó xiàolì.

He entered government service when young, serving the country.

学而优则仕，是古代读书人的目标。

Xué'éryōuzéshì, shì gǔdài dúshūrén de mùbiāo.

"Excel in learning, then serve as an official" was the goal of scholars in ancient times.

Tips

仕 is a classical/literary character. It appears in 出仕 (to enter officialdom), 仕途 (official career path), and the Confucian saying 学而优则仕.

usage

In Chinese chess (象棋), 仕 refers to the two advisor pieces that guard the general on the red side.

Components

radical

亻 rén

person (left-side radical of 人)

Left person radical, the side form of 人. 仕 is the verb 'to serve as an official,' so the radical names what kind of person is doing the serving. Indexes the character in the human-role family (任 duty, 仁 benevolence, 信 trust).

phonetic

士 shì

scholar; officer (here phonetic + semantic)

Right 士 supplies the sound shì directly with no shift, and pulls a strong semantic load too: 士 already meant a member of the ruling scholar-official class, the literati who staffed the imperial bureaucracy. Adding the person radical makes the verb explicit — a person being a 士, taking office.

Stroke Order

仕 shì

仕