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作业 (zuò yè) — homework; school assignment; task; operation (in work or industrial context)

Definition

At HSK 3, 作业 means school homework — work a student does for class. In everyday speech 工作 is a job; 功课 is also homework but less common.

noun
homeworkschool assignmenttaskoperation (in work or industrial context)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 。
    Wǒ měi tiān dōu yào xiě zuò yè.
    I have to do homework every day.
  • 作业。
    Jīn tiān de zuò yè hěn nán.
    Today's homework is very difficult.
  • 作业。
    Lǎo shī jiǎn chá le wǒ men de zuò yè.
    The teacher checked our homework.

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.

作zuòdo; complete
业yèwork; task

作 means to do or complete, and 业 means work or task, together assigned 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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
亻Written in full as人rénperson
Sound part声符shēngfú
乍
乍zhà作zuò
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The left side 亻 comes from 人, meaning 'person', and the right side 乍 gives the sound.

Open 作 →

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
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