学究

學究
xuéjiū
noun #32,501

Meanings

  1. 1 pedant
  2. 2 bookish scholar (mildly derogatory)
  3. 3 (historical) Tang/Song imperial-exam category 学究一经

Examples

Tā shì gè lǎo xuéjiū, kāi kǒu jiù shì gǔwén.
He's an old pedant — every time he opens his mouth it's classical prose.
Tā de xiězuò fēnggé yǒudiǎn xuéjiū qì.
His writing style is a bit pedantic.

Tips

history
Originally a Tang dynasty imperial-exam category 学究一经 ('study-and-investigate one classic') — candidates who specialized in a single Confucian classic. By the Song the term was shortened to 学究 and over time turned mildly derogatory: a scholar who only knows books, not the world.
usage
学究 (xuéjiū qì, 'pedantic air') and 学究 (lǎo xuéjiū, 'old pedant') are the everyday collocations. Don't use it as a job title — it's a put-down.

Stroke Order

xué
jiū