Meaning of 科学家
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- scientist
How to use 科学家
科学家 is a neutral, everyday noun for any scientist. The same 家 ending appears in many job titles for experts. Example: 她想当科学家。(Tā xiǎng dāng kēxuéjiā.) She wants to be a scientist.
科学 (kēxué) means science, and 家 (jiā) means home, but at the end of a word it means an expert in a field. So 科学家 is a person whose home is science: a scientist.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes read 家 here as "home" and think 科学家 means a science family or a lab. Also keep 学 (xué) in second tone. It is often flattened to a neutral tone in 科学 (kēxué), but 学 in 学生 (xuéshēng) and 学校 (xuéxiào) keeps its second tone.
科学家 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
科 kē · branch of study · 9 strokes
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学 xué · to learn · 8 strokes
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家 jiā · home · 10 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 科学家.
| 回家 | huí jiā | to return home |
| 国家 | guójiā | country; nation; state |
| 学校 | xuéxiào | school |
| 家里 | jiā li | home |
| 家人 | jiārén | family member; (old) servant |
| 学生 | xuéshēng | student; schoolchild |
| 大学 | dàxué | university; college |
| 学习 | xuéxí | to learn; to study |
| 在家 | zàijiā | to be at home; (at a workplace) to be in (as opposed to being away on official business 出差 |
| 同学 | tóngxué | to study at the same school; fellow student |
| 上学 | shàngxué | to go to school; to attend school |
| 学院 | xuéyuàn | college; educational institute |
Questions about 科学家
What does 科学家 mean?
科学家 (kēxuéjiā) means "scientist" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 科学家?
科学家 is made of 3 characters: 科 (9 strokes), 学 (8 strokes), 家 (10 strokes). That is 27 strokes in total.
Is 科学家 an HSK word?
Yes. 科学家 is on the HSK 2 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 科学家 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 科学家 is written 科學家.
What other words use 家 to mean an expert?
Common ones are 作家 (zuòjiā) writer, 画家 (huàjiā) painter, and 音乐家 (yīnyuèjiā) musician. 家 usually marks someone respected for skill or creative work, not an ordinary job like a driver.
How do I say a scientist in a specific field?
Put the field before 家, often dropping 学. For example, 物理学家 (wùlǐxuéjiā) is a physicist and 化学家 (huàxuéjiā) is a chemist.