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When I look at the words for professions, there are usually kanji such as 員、者、長、師、屋 and such, that end the name. These appear to make sense to me; however, what about ones such as 家、手、and 士?

For example, why does 歌手 mean "singer"? Does this have anything to do with 手 or "hands"? The same could be said for 作家 similarly.

How did these kanji as suffixes come about to represent any given profession? Why not any others?

Chris
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  • 士 means samurai or man (紳士=a gentleman, 好学の士= a lover of learning) I have never thought it too strange to adopt the character for professions such as 会計士. 手 can mean helper as in　人手 or "あと3人ほど手が欲しい｜We need [want] three more [pairs of] hands"; This too also seemed to correspond with English expressions like "old China hand" for someone experienced in doing business in China. 家 is a bit harder though... – Tim Aug 27 '12 at 03:01
  • This is why I used specific examples like 歌手. I cannot understand the role 手 plays or why it was chosen for this profession. – Chris Aug 27 '12 at 03:04
  • There may be an element of social order: 会計士 or 博士　have more prestige than 歌手、hence the choice of samurai for some and 'pair of hands' for another? If we extend this to 家、this suggests the master of the house (?) and rather like the manchus in china, only the elite would be sufficiently educated (or wealthy enough) to be writers 作家？ – Tim Aug 27 '12 at 03:28
  • @Chocolate: Thanks for the edit! Those are always confusing to me! – Chris Aug 27 '12 at 04:14
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    The word 歌手 maybe came from Chinese. I don't think there is a consistent rule about it. Just memorize them. – Gradius Aug 27 '12 at 06:53
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    @Tim, So do you have to be elite to be an 愛煙家? :P – dainichi Aug 27 '12 at 07:22
  • 手 is a very versatile kanji. Think of 上手　and 下手. Following from those compounds, it carries a meaning of skill or prowess. If you also recall the conjugation of (verb)-er, it uses the kanji 手 (e.g. reader:読み手, writer:書き手, speaker:話し手). – rurouniwallace Aug 27 '12 at 12:32
  • @dainichi: hmm, I suppose smoking was once status symbol of wealth and I don't know how old this word is but, it was only a guess. 歌手 seems to exist in Korean and imply somebody who works for a living. Interestingly a classical singer is 声楽家 and another word for singer 歌姫. (Actually my original thought was on the use of 士, not 家。） – Tim Aug 27 '12 at 14:43
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    @Gradius: How will I learn anything if I only memorize something? If you don't think there is a consistent rule then why not make that an answer? – Chris Aug 27 '12 at 14:48
  • 画家、芸術家、彫刻家、作家(cf.作者)、小説家、音楽家、作曲家(cf.作曲者)、声楽家、演奏家(cf.演奏者/奏者)、舞踏家、書家...Can you see a consistency? I thought all these have something to do with "art", but I'm not sure because we have 政治家, 愛妻家, 愛煙家,愛猫家.... –  Aug 27 '12 at 16:39
  • @Chris What I want to say is that you should not and don't need to coin new words. You should learn already existing words. Those suffixes are used as a part of a word and we don't think 歌手 as 歌 + 手. 歌手 is a single word. – Gradius Aug 29 '12 at 06:45

1 Answers1

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There's an interesting article about it here, starting with a discussion of the words 投手 (pitcher) and 打者 (batter).

From the writers perspective, 手 indicates someone employed for some concrete ability, whereas 者 can refer to a particular role or standpoint, often temporary (although in some cases it means 求道者).

So because the 'batter' isn't a fixed role (you have the same pitcher but a series of batters), 打手 wouldn't make sense.

Similarly, 運転手 is a person who makes their living from driving, 運転者 is the driver at a certain time.

For the other suffixes: 家 often means 専門家 (a specialist in something). It does seem to often be used for artistic occupations, as Chocolate said. 作家 is someone who writes books for a living. 著者 is the author of a particular book.

士, when it isn't used for military occupations (戦士) usually indicates some sort of official certification. By comparison, 師 is a master of something without relation to qualifications. However, some jobs where official certification is usually held use 師 instead of 士, e.g. 看護師. This comes from replacing two terms (using 婦/士 for female/male) with a single gender-neutral form.

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