上课 (shàng kè) — to attend class (as a student) or to teach clas…

Definition

上课 means attending or teaching a specific class/session. 上学 is going to school as a daily routine; 读书 is studying or attending school more broadly.

verb

to attend class (as a student) or to teach class (as a teacher)

Easily confused

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

上 is attend or go to and 课 is class, giving the sense of going to class.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

上 is drawn as a short horizontal line placed above a longer arc, marking a position above that arc.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 課; 课 is its simplified writing.

言果課

Meaning part形符xíngfú

言言yánto say

Sound part声符shēngfú

果

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 課 pairs 言 (to say) with 果 as a sound part; the simplified 课 is a shorthand and its right side is not a sound part.

Appears in