导师

• Pinyin: dǎo shī
• Hanzi breakdown: 导 = 巳 + 寸 (guide, lead); 师 = 帀 + 巾 (teacher, master)

Meaning

An academic supervisor or tutor; a mentor or guide. In modern Chinese academia, specifically the professor who supervises a graduate student's research.

In modern universities, 导师 refers to the graduate thesis supervisor. More broadly, it can mean any mentor providing guidance. In historical or religious contexts, it can mean a spiritual or ideological leader.

Examples

1. 她的博士导师在计算语言学领域享有极高的国际声誉。 Her doctoral supervisor enjoys an extremely high international reputation in the field of computational linguistics.
2. 导师建议她将研究方向调整为跨语言迁移学习。 Her supervisor suggested that she adjust her research direction to cross-lingual transfer learning.
3. 良好的导师关系对研究生的学术成长和职业发展至关重要。 A good relationship with one's supervisor is crucial to a graduate student's academic growth and career development.

Usage Guide

Context: academia, education, mentorship

Tone: respectful

Do Say

• 研究生在选择导师时，应充分了解其研究方向和指导风格。(Graduate students should thoroughly understand a supervisor's research direction and mentoring style when making their choice.)
• 导师对学生的学术训练和独立思考能力的培养负有重要责任。(Supervisors bear an important responsibility for students' academic training and the development of their independent thinking.)

Don't Say

• 我的导师很坏 — maintain respectful register; if there are genuine issues, say 我们的合作存在一些困难

Origin & History

导 (guide, lead) + 师 (teacher, master)

Cultural Context

Generation: Students and academics

Social background: Universal