一日为师，终身为父 / 一日為師，終身為父

yī​rì​wéi​shī​zhōng​shēn​wéi​fù

teacher for one day, father for life

(idiom) even a teacher for a single day should be respected and honored like a father for the rest of one's life; expresses the deep lifelong gratitude and respect a student owes to their teacher

yí​rì​wéi​shī​zhōng​shēn​wéi​fù

一 (literal) → 一 · yī · one 日 (literal) → 日 · rì · day 为 (literal) → 为/為 · wéi · to be 师 (literal) → 师/師 · shī · teacher ， (non_chinese) 终 (literal) → 终/終 · zhōng · whole 身 (literal) → 身 · shēn · life 为 (literal) → 为/為 · wéi · to be 父 (literal) → 父 · fù · father

Changed: simplified, traditional, gloss, definition, pinyin, variant pinyin, variants, separable parts, decomposition

created sense May 20, 2026, 07:57 PM