侍候

• Pinyin: shì hòu
• Hanzi breakdown: 侍 = 亻+ 寺 (attend, serve — person stationed at a place of service); 候 = 亻+ 侯 (wait upon, attend — person waiting on a lord)

Meaning

To wait upon; to attend to; to serve. To look after someone with care and attention, especially an elder, patient, or superior.

Implies close, personal, and often deferential attendance — tending to someone's physical needs, comfort, or wishes. Used for caring for the elderly (侍候老人), attending on the sick (侍候病人), or serving superiors in a formal or historical context. Carries connotations of devoted, sometimes subordinate service. Contrast: 服务 (service in a professional sense), 照顾 (to look after — broader and more neutral), 伺候 (variant spelling, same meaning, slightly more colloquial).

Examples

1. 儿媳妇多年如一日地侍候卧床不起的婆婆，喂饭、擦身、按摩，风雨无阻，邻里无不对其孝心赞叹有加。 For years on end, the daughter-in-law has cared for her bedridden mother-in-law day after day—feeding her, wiping her down, massaging her—without fail, and the neighbors all praise her devotion.
2. 古代宫廷中，宫女和太监的主要职责便是侍候皇帝和后妃的日常起居，稍有疏失便可能招致严厉惩处。 In the imperial courts of ancient times, the main duty of palace maids and eunuchs was to attend to the daily needs of the emperor and his consorts; the slightest mistake could bring severe punishment.
3. 他辞去了待遇优厚的工作，回到故乡侍候年迈多病的父亲，这一决定令许多同事既敬佩又感到不解和惋惜。 He quit a well-paid job and returned to his hometown to look after his elderly, chronically ill father; the decision left many colleagues both admiring and puzzled, with a sense of regret.

Usage Guide

Context: family care, eldercare, historical/classical, traditional values

Tone: respectful

Do Say

• 父母含辛茹苦将我们抚养成人，如今他们年迈体衰，我们子女有责任悉心侍候，让他们在晚年感受到家庭的温暖与子女的感恩之情。(Our parents raised us through great hardship; now that they are old and frail, we as children have the responsibility to attend on them with care, letting them feel the warmth of family and the gratitude of their children in their old age.)
• 护理人员不仅要具备专业的医疗知识和操作技能，还须怀有真诚的关爱之心，以耐心和细心侍候每一位需要长期照护的患者。(Care workers must not only possess professional medical knowledge and practical skills, but must also carry a sincere heart of care, waiting upon each patient in need of long-term care with patience and attentiveness.)

Don't Say

• 侍候 in a professional service context (restaurant, hotel) — use 服务 (to serve) or 招待 (to receive and attend to guests) instead; 侍候 implies a more personal, intimate, and often subordinate form of attendance that sounds odd in commercial service settings

Origin & History

侍 (to serve, to attend on — 亻 person + 寺 temple/attendant) + 候 (to wait, to attend — 亻 person + 侯 marquis/wait) — both components carry the sense of being present in attendance

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal