ZHIZHI 知止 · LEARN CHINESE DAILY

to learn / to study

xué
8 strokes · 子 (child radical, at the bottom) · HSK 1

Where 学 comes from

学 (traditional 學) shows a child (子) under a roof (冖), with hands and a symbol of learning above — a child in a house, receiving knowledge. The simplified form keeps the child at the bottom and crowns it with three small strokes for the busy hands of learning.

学 in Chinese culture

学 sits at the heart of a culture that has revered education for over two thousand years. 学生 = student ('one who learns to live'), 学校 = school, 同学 = classmate. Confucius opened the Analects with 学: '学而时习之,不亦说乎' — 'To learn and practice often, is that not a joy?'

Example

学生 xuéshēng — student

我学中文。
Wǒ xué Zhōngwén.
I study Chinese.

How to remember it

A child (子) under a roof with busy little hands on top — LEARNING.

Right now, with 学, 中, and 文 you're almost able to say what you're doing: 我学中文 — 'I'm studying Chinese.' That's a real sentence about a real you.

Same sound, different tones

1st xuē
to pare / cut
2nd xué
to learn
3rd xuě
snow
4th xuè
blood

Words unlocked by 学

学好 xué hǎo
to learn well / master
上学 shàng xué
to go to school
我学 wǒ xué
I study / I learn
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