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秀才

xiùcai
noun #63,904

Meanings

  1. 1 xiucai (scholar who passed county-level imperial exam)
  2. 2 scholar
  3. 3 bookish person

Examples

HSK 3
别装秀才了，干点活吧。
Bié zhuāng xiùcai le, gàn diǎn huó ba.
Stop playing the scholar and do some work.
HSK 6
他爷爷是清末的秀才。
Tā yéye shì Qīng mò de xiùcai.
His grandfather was a xiucai in the late Qing.
HSK 6
秀才不出门，便知天下事。
Xiùcai bù chūmén, biàn zhī tiānxià shì.
A scholar need not leave home to know the affairs of the world.

Tips

history
The lowest of three imperial exam degrees (秀才 - 举人 - 进士). Passing 秀才 exempted one from corvée labor and corporal punishment but did not guarantee an official post.
usage
In modern speech often ironic, applied to someone book-smart but impractical.

Stroke Order

秀 xiù
才 cái