Countries where Mandarin Chinese is spoken are often strongly influenced by Confucian ideals. Part of the Confucian tradition is a deep respect for teachers.

Laoshi is the Mandarin word for “teacher.” It has two characters: ?? and the first character lao ? is a prefix which means “old.” The second character shi ? means “teacher,” so the literal translation of laoshi is “old teacher.”

Laoshi is used as a title.

You can address your teacher as “laoshi” or you can use laoshi in combination with a family name when referring to a teacher.

Examples of Laoshi

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Laoshi hao. Ni máng ma?
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Hello teacher. Are you busy?

Wo hen xihuan Huáng laoshi.
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I really like Teacher Huang.