师爷 (shīye): (historical) privately hired le…

Meanings

1 (historical) privately hired legal or administrative advisor to a government official
2 teacher's teacher (in academic lineage)

Characters

师

Examples

清朝官员常常聘请绍兴师爷处理公文。

Qīng cháo guānyuán chángcháng pìnqǐng Shàoxīng shīye chǔlǐ gōngwén.

Qing-dynasty officials often hired Shaoxing advisors to handle official documents.

他给县太爷当师爷。

Tā gěi xiàn tàiyé dāng shīye.

He serves as the county magistrate's advisor.

Tips

history

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, 师爷 were private secretaries hired personally by a magistrate (not by the state) to handle law, taxation, and paperwork. 绍兴师爷 — from Shaoxing in Zhejiang — became so dominant the term is synonymous with the role.