和尚 (héshang): Buddhist monk

Measure Word

一个和尚 gè

山上住着一个和尚。

Shānshàng zhù zhe yīgè héshang.

A monk lives on the mountain.

他出家当了和尚。

Tā chū jiādāng le héshang.

He left home to become a monk.

culture

The famous tongue twister: 山上有座庙，庙里有个和尚 (On the mountain there's a temple, in the temple there's a monk...) is known by nearly every Chinese child.

memory

和尚 is a phonetic borrowing from Sanskrit. The characters' individual meanings don't combine logically here.

和 hé

尚 shàng