中小学 (zhōng xiǎo xué) — primary and secondary schools, K-12 education (collectively)

Definition

Refers collectively to primary and secondary schools (K-12) as a single stage of education — '中小' covers both elementary and middle/high school levels, not just middle school.

noun
primary and secondary schoolsK-12 education (collectively)

Examples

  • 中小学。
    Zhōng guó de zhōng xiǎo xué jiào yù shì jiǔ nián yì wù jiào yù.
    China's primary and secondary education is nine years of compulsory education.
  • 中小学。
    Zhè suǒ zhōng xiǎo xué yǒu sān qiān duō míng xué shēng.
    This K-12 school has over three thousand students.
  • 中小学。
    zhōng xiǎo xué Jiào shī de dài yù zhèng zài zhú bù tí gāo.
    The compensation for primary and secondary school teachers is gradually improving.

Origin

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The original picture showed a flagpole with a drum in the middle, set up in the center of a field.

Open 中 →

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

  • 八八bāto divide; to separate
  • 丨丨gǔnsmall object

The shape of 小 comes from three small dots, later elongated into its strokes; the apparent parts 八 and 丨 are a later way of seeing it.

Open 小 →

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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