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职业zhí yèoccupation; profession; vocation

HSK 4word

By Chinese Copilot · Last updated

职业 (zhí yè) means "occupation," "profession," or "vocation": the kind of work a person does for a living, as in 你的职业是什么？ (What is your occupation?). Before another noun it can also mean "professional," describing someone who does an activity as paid work, as in 职业司机 (a professional driver).

What does 职业 mean?

  1. 1.

    occupation; profession; vocationnoun

  2. 2.

    professionaladjective

What do the characters in 职业 mean?

  • 职duty
  • 业occupation

How do you use 职业?

职业 names a kind of work in general; for a specific job someone has now, 工作 is the everyday word.

What are some examples of 职业 in a sentence?

  1. HSK 6

    你的职业是什么？

    Nǐ de zhíyè shì shénme?

    What is your occupation?

  2. HSK 6

    我想当一名职业司机。

    Wǒ xiǎng dāng yì míng zhíyè sījī.

    I want to be a professional driver.

  3. HSK 6

    医生是一个好职业。

    Yīshēng shì yí ge hǎo zhíyè.

    Being a doctor is a good profession.

How is 职业 used in a conversation?

  1. Speaker A:

    你哥哥做什么工作？

    Nǐ gēge zuò shénme gōngzuò?

    What does your older brother do?

  2. Speaker B:

    他是律师。

    Tā shì lǜshī.

    He's a lawyer.

  3. Speaker A:

    他喜欢这个职业吗？

    Tā xǐhuan zhège zhíyè ma?

    Does he like this profession?

  4. Speaker B:

    很喜欢，就是太忙了。

    Hěn xǐhuan, jiùshì tài máng le.

    He loves it, but he's too busy.

What should you learn next?

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English glosses on this page are adapted from CC-CEDICT, published by MDBG (snapshot 2026-10-23), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Glosses were edited for learners.