僧 sēng Buddhist priest
Buddhist priest; monk
怎么记住“僧”: 亻 person + 曾 used to be = Buddhist priest. The quiet person sweeping the temple steps used to be a banker in Shanghai, and now he is a Buddhist priest.
部件结构
形声 · Meaning + sound
One part gives the meaning, the other gives the sound.
僧 = 亻 person + 曾 used to be
- 亻 person meaning
- 曾 used to be sound
The quiet person sweeping the temple steps used to be a banker in Shanghai, and now he is a Buddhist priest.
How it came to be
The person gives the meaning and the right part gives the sound: a kind of person, a monk.
用法
- A Buddhist monk: 僧人 (sēngrén) monk, 僧侣 (sēnglǚ) clergy/monks, 高僧 (gāosēng) an eminent monk.
- Male Buddhist clergy specifically; a nun is 尼姑, a Daoist priest is 道士.
- 僧多粥少 (sēng duō zhōu shǎo) = many monks, little porridge, too many people for too few resources.