者 (zhě): one who; person (suffix)

Meanings

1 one who; person (suffix)
2 -er; -or; -ist (agent noun suffix)

Characters

者

zhě

-er; one who (suffix)

An extremely common suffix that turns verbs into agent nouns: 读者 (reader), 记者 (journalist), 学者 (scholar).

Examples

记者在采访。

Jìzhě zài cǎifǎng.

The journalist is conducting an interview.

读者对这本书评价很高。

Dúzhě duì zhè běn shū píngjià hěn gāo.

Readers rate this book very highly.

学者们正在研究这个问题。

Xuézhě men zhèngzài yánjiū zhège wèntí.

Scholars are researching this problem.

Tips

grammar

者 is a classical/formal suffix meaning 'person who does X': 记者 (journalist), 读者 (reader), 作者 (author), 学者 (scholar), 患者 (patient), 消费者 (consumer).

usage

者 is productive — you can recognize new words by knowing it means '-er/-or': 志愿者 (volunteer), 旁观者 (bystander).

Components

radical

耂 lǎo

elder (top form of 老)

Top 耂 is the elder radical, the top of 老 used as a component, originally an old person leaning on a stick. It sets the visual frame of 'someone of standing who acts' — the 'one who...' nominaliser grew out of describing a person. Same cap on 考, 老.

semantic

日 rì

sun; day

Bottom 日 looks like the sun but is historically a stylised speech element — early 者 showed an elder with words coming out, marking 'the one who speaks'. The modern 日 shape is graphic residue; reading it as 'sun under elder' is a useful mnemonic, not the etymology.