道学 (dào xué) — Neo-Confucianism (the Song-Ming rationalist school); (derogatory) affected morality, pedantic moralizing; (less common) teachings of philosophical Daoism

Definition

道学 is a polysemous noun. The dominant HSK-level sense is Neo-Confucianism (the Song-Ming rationalist school); colloquially it can also mean 'pedantic moralizing'. The Daoist teachings reading (老庄之学) is less common.

noun
Neo-Confucianism (the Song-Ming rationalist school)(derogatory) affected moralitypedantic moralizing(less common) teachings of philosophical Daoism

Examples

  • 道学。
    Sòng dài de dào xué jiā qiáng diào gé wù zhì zhī.
    Neo-Confucian scholars of the Song dynasty emphasized investigating things to extend knowledge.
  • 道学，。
    Tā zǒng shì yí fù dào xué miàn kǒng, ràng rén shòu bù liǎo.
    He always puts on a pedantic moralizing face, which is unbearable.
  • 道学。
    Zhè běn shū jiǎng de shì lǎo zhuāng dào xué de hé xīn lǐ niàn.
    This book discusses the core ideas of Laozi and Zhuangzi's Daoist teachings.

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.

道dàothe Way
学xuéstudy

道 refers to the Way or Dao, and 学 means study; together they name the learning centered on the Way.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
行行xíngstreet
止止zhǐfoot
Sound part声符shēngfú
𩠐
首shǒu道dào
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

Early 道 showed a street 行, a foot 止, and a part written 首 or 𩠐; the right part of 行 later disappeared.

Open 道 →

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 →

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