学名 (xué míng) — scientific name (e.g., Latin name of a species); formal school name (as opposed to a nickname at home)

Definition

Two unrelated meanings: the Latin 'scientific name' of a species (biology), and your 'formal name used at school' (as opposed to 小名, a nickname used at home).

noun
scientific name (e.g., Latin name of a species)formal school name (as opposed to a nickname at home)

Examples

  • ，学名。
    Zài shēng wù kè shàng, wǒ men xué xí le zhè zhǒng zhí wù de xué míng.
    In biology class, we learned the scientific name of this plant.
  • ，学名。
    Zài xué xiào lǐ, dà jiā dōu jiào wǒ de xué míng.
    At school, everyone calls me by my formal school name.
  • 学名，。
    Wǒ de xué míng shì lǐ huá, xiǎo míng shì huá huá.
    My formal school name is Li Hua, and my nickname is Huahua.

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
名míngname

学 (study or science) and 名 (name) combine to mean a formal or scientific name.

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.

名 puts 夕 (crescent moon) above 口 (mouth), showing a name spoken in the dark.

Open 名 →

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.