Questions about 医者

Using Pimsleur, I was given いしゃ 「医者」 as "doctor" (medical). But when I looked it up at Densha Jisho online dictionary, it had a (sens) tag after it, marking it as a sensitive term.

I am curious why it marked as a sensitive term. I am also curious about how 医者 differs from 先生 「せんせい」. I know that 先生 is a somewhat general term, but that is the only way I have heard of doctors being referred to. 医者 is new to me, and the sensitive tag worries me about using it.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can shed some light on this!

dwcarless said:

Using Pimsleur, I was given いしゃ 「医者」 as "doctor" (medical). But when I looked it up at Densha Jisho online dictionary, it had a (sens) tag after it, marking it as a sensitive term.
I am curious why it marked as a sensitive term. I am also curious about how 医者 differs from 先生 「せんせい」. I know that 先生 is a somewhat general term, but that is the only way I have heard of doctors being referred to. 医者 is new to me, and the sensitive tag worries me about using it.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can shed some light on this!

Click to expand...

wiki sort of explains it:
医者 - Wiktionary

医者 sounds sort of disrespectful as it sounds detached from a person: in the same sense as calling people "Hey, factory worker" or "Farmer" won't do somehow.

The formal name for the people in the occupation is 医師.

It does not have any reference, so I don't know if it can be trusted but according to the wiki, 医師 came in use somewhere between 1868~、1912年 and the reason for it was that the government of that period wanted to move doctors up in a meritocratic social class system existed in Japan(Four occupations - Wikipedia).

また「医師」という呼称が用いられるようになったのは明治時代に入ってからである。それ以前は「医者」と呼んでいた[要出典]:
医師 - Wikipedia

In conclusion, it is not good to call a doctor 医者 because addressing to respectable people without prefix and suffix was considered impolite in old days. And the practice somewhat survived presumably because no one really cared to change it.
When talking to a doctor, we generally use 先生.

Thank you so much! Your explanation sounds perfect.

It sounds like as in English one can use "judge" in abstract or third person, but in a personal setting or with that person one would use "your honor" or "the honorable" or "sir".

So 医者 is the actual profession, whereas 先生 「or 医師」 would be the title to use. Is that correct?

先生 in itself is an honorific, afforded to people that are not necessarily doctors but command a certain amount of respect. Professions such as teachers and doctors are afforded the honorific of 先生after their last name.

医者 is what the profession of a doctor is called. A teacher (as a profession) is called 教師(kyoushi).

Kirakira1232 said:

先生 in itself is an honorific, afforded to people that are not necessarily doctors but command a certain amount of respect. Professions such as teachers and doctors are afforded the honorific of 先生after their last name.
医者 is what the profession of a doctor is called. A teacher (as a profession) is called 教師(kyoushi).

Click to expand...

医者 I would only use in the context of "seeing a doctor" or having the status of "being a doctor." It's the equivlant of "Hey doc !" as a direct address.


医師 you may think of as stuffy for personal conversation but closer in practice to the English term "physician." It's the official title for someone and the official name of the status with the qualification as an 医師 .


A teacher is a kyōshi (教師) and a doctor is an isha (医者) or ishi (医師) in plain language. The polite versions are used when addressing or talking about the person.