母校 (mǔ xiào) — alma mater; one's old school | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

Literally "mother school": a warm, respectful term for the school or university one graduated from, carrying a sense of affection and nostalgia.

noun

alma materone's old school

Measure word · 所

Examples

母校。
Wǒ měi nián dōu huì huí mǔ xiào kàn kàn lǎo shī.
I go back to my alma mater every year to visit my teachers.
母校。
Tā duì mǔ xiào yǒu zhe shēn hòu de gǎn qíng.
He has deep feelings for his alma mater.
母校。
Zhè suǒ dà xué shì wǒ de mǔ xiào.
This university is my alma mater.

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.

母mǔmother

母 evokes mother, and 校 names a school, so the word pictures one's alma mater.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

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

木交校

Meaning part形符xíngfú

木木mùtree

Sound part声符shēngfú

交

交jiāo校jiào

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

校 is built from 木 (tree) on the left and 交 on the right, which supplies the sound.

Appears in

School & Education

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