泰斗
tài doǔ · HSK 7
leading scholar of his time
⛰️⭐ 泰 = Mount Tai + 斗 = Big Dipper; short for 泰山北斗, a towering authority
泰斗 condenses the idiom 泰山北斗 (Mount Tai and the Big Dipper). Both are fixed reference points the ancients looked up to, so the word names a top expert everyone defers to. 斗 here is the Dipper constellation, not the measuring-cup sense.
斗 — pictograph of a ladle/dipper with handle
斗 originally depicted a long-handled ladle or dipper used to scoop grain or wine, and by extension became a unit of dry measure (about 10 liters). The same graph was later borrowed for the unrelated meaning 'to fight,' which in simplified Chinese merged with the traditional character 鬥. Context tells the two senses apart.