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休学 (xiū xué) — to suspend schooling (temporarily stop attending school while keeping enrollment)

Definition

休学 means to take a temporary, official leave from school — enrollment is kept but classes are paused. Contrast with 退学 (tuìxué), which is permanent withdrawal that ends enrollment.

verb
to suspend schooling (temporarily stop attending school while keeping enrollment)

Examples

  • ，休学。
    Tā yīn wèi shēn tǐ bù hǎo, jué dìng xiū xué yì nián.
    He decided to suspend schooling for a year because of poor health.
  • ，。
    Tā xiū le liǎng nián xué, qù guó wài lǚ xíng le.
    She took a two-year break from school and traveled abroad.
  • 休学。
    Hěn duō xué shēng yīn wèi chuàng yè ér zàn shí xiū xué.
    Many students suspend schooling temporarily to start a business.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

休xiūstop
学xuéstudy

休 means stop, 学 means study, so together it means to temporarily stop studying.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

休 pairs 人 (man) with 木 (tree), showing a person leaning against a tree to rest.

Open 休 →

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 學; 学 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 學 may have used 爻 and 六 for sound, with hands and a child added later; the simplified 学 is a shorthand.

Open 学 →
Appears in
School & Education

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