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学业 (xué yè) — academic studies; schoolwork

Definition

学业 refers to a person's overall course of study or schoolwork over time — broader than 功课, which means a specific assignment or subject.

noun
academic studiesschoolwork

Examples

  • 学业，。
    Tā wèi le wán chéng xué yè, měi tiān dōu hěn wǎn cái shuì jiào.
    He goes to bed very late every day in order to complete his schoolwork.
  • 学业，。
    Tā yì biān gōng zuò yì biān jiān gù xué yè, fēi cháng xīn kǔ.
    She balances work and her studies at the same time, which is very hard.
  • 学业。
    xué yè De yā lì ràng wǒ jué de hěn lèi.
    The pressure of academic work makes me feel very tired.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

学xuéstudy
业yèwork

学 (study) and 业 (work) combine to mean academic work.

Characters in this word

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 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 業; 业 is its simplified writing.

  • 丵丵zhuóchisel
  • 大大dàperson; big

The traditional 業 is explained as a picture of a beam from which bells and chimes hang, or as a person lifting that beam. The simplified 业 is a shorthand, not the original shape.

Open 业 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9School & Education

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