老师
lǎo shī · HSK 1
teacher
👨🏫 老师 = old/venerable + master; honorific 'old' marks respected teacher
老 (lǎo) means old or venerable and acts as a respectful prefix in Chinese. 师 (shī) means master or expert. Together they form the standard honorific term for a teacher.
老 — old man 耂 + 匕 (bent figure)
Originally a pictograph of an elderly person with long hair leaning on a cane. The top 耂 depicts the hair and stooped body, while 匕 at the bottom represents the cane or a bent figure. The core meaning 'old' has remained stable since oracle bone script.