德先生

Déxiānsheng

proper noun

Meanings

1 'Mr. Democracy', the May Fourth era's name for democracy

Characters

De-, the first sound of 'democracy'

first; with the next character, mister

born; with the previous character, mister

Examples

HSK 7-9

五四时期的青年高举德先生和赛先生两面旗帜。

Wǔsì shíqī de qīngnián gāojǔ Déxiānsheng hé Sàixiānsheng liǎng miàn qízhì.

Young people of the May Fourth era held high the two banners of Mr. Democracy and Mr. Science.

HSK 7-9

陈独秀说，只有德先生和赛先生才能救中国。

Chén Dúxiù shuō, zhǐyǒu Déxiānsheng hé Sàixiānsheng cái néng jiù Zhōngguó.

Chen Duxiu said that only Mr. Democracy and Mr. Science could save China.

Tips

history

德 is the first syllable of 德谟克拉西, an early transliteration of 'democracy', just as 赛先生 comes from 'science'. In 1919 陈独秀 wrote in 《新青年》 that only these two gentlemen could cure the darkness in China's politics, morals, learning and thought.

memory

De for Democracy, Sai for Science: each gentleman is named after the first sound of the English word.

Stroke Order

德 dé

先 xiān

生 shēng