司机
driver; chauffeur
sījī
What does 司机 mean?
司机 (sījī) is the noun for someone whose job is driving — a taxi driver, bus driver, truck driver, or company chauffeur. It refers specifically to professional or paid drivers, not just anyone who happens to be at the wheel; for the act of driving a car yourself, use the verb 开车 (kāichē), and to describe yourself as the driver in that moment you'd say 我开车 rather than 我是司机. When hailing a cab or speaking to a Didi driver, passengers often address them as 师傅 (shīfu, 'master') instead of 司机, but the word 司机 itself is perfectly polite.
Common compounds: 出租车司机 (taxi driver), 公交车司机 (bus driver), 卡车司机 (truck driver). Note the character 司, which appears in many profession-related words like 公司 (company).
Note: Used both as a job title (taxi driver, bus driver) and as a polite form of address — passengers commonly call any driver
Character breakdown
to manage; to take charge of
machine
Memory hook: 司 'manage' + 机 'machine' = the person who manages a machine (vehicle) — the driver.
Measure word for 司机
Example sentences
我爸爸是出租车司机。
Wǒ bàba shì chūzūchē sījī.
My dad is a taxi driver.
neutral
司机，请到机场。
Sījī, qǐng dào jīchǎng.
Driver, to the airport please.
spoken, polite
这个司机开车开得很快。
Zhège sījī kāichē kāi de hěn kuài.
This driver drives really fast.
spoken
他想当公交车司机。
Tā xiǎng dāng gōngjiāochē sījī.
He wants to be a bus driver.
neutral
请问，司机师傅在哪儿？
Qǐngwèn, sījī shīfu zài nǎr?
Excuse me, where is the driver?
spoken, polite
Common phrases with 司机
Synonyms
师傅 is the polite form of address used by passengers to drivers, repairmen, and skilled workers. 司机 is the actual job title. You CALL a driver 师傅; you DESCRIBE him as a 司机.
Don't confuse 司机 with
公司 means 'company / firm.' Shares the character 司 with 司机 but refers to a business, not a person. The shared character means 'manage / department.'
开车 is the verb 'to drive (a car).' 司机 is the noun 'driver' as a profession. Say 我会开车 ('I can drive'), not 我是司机, unless driving is actually your job.