卫生学 (wèi shēng xué) — hygiene (as an academic discipline); sanitary science

Definition

An academic discipline: the scientific study of hygiene, sanitation, and disease prevention. Think of it as the scholarly counterpart to everyday 卫生 — courses and majors, not personal habits.

noun
hygiene (as an academic discipline)sanitary science

Examples

  • 卫生学。
    Tā zài dà xué zhǔ xiū wèi shēng xué.
    He majored in hygiene at university.
  • 卫生学。
    wèi shēng xué Yán jiū rú hé yù fáng jí bìng chuán bō.
    Hygiene studies how to prevent the spread of disease.
  • 。
    Zhè mén wèi shēng xué kè chéng hán gài le gōng gòng wèi shēng de jī běn zhī shi.
    This hygiene course covers the basics of public health.

Origin

Derived word
构词法gòucífǎ
后缀hòuzhuìSuffix

A fixed syllable at the end that turns the word into a noun, a person, a place or the like.

卫生hygiene
卫wèiprotect生shēnglife
动宾Verb + object
学xuéstudy

卫生, from 卫 'protect' and 生 'life', joins with 学 'study' to name the discipline of hygiene.

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 衛; 卫 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
行行xíng
Sound part声符shēngfú
韋
韋wéi衛wèi
Same sound today

The traditional form 衛 is built from 行 as the sense part and 韋 as the sound part; the simplified 卫 is a shorthand.

Open 卫 →

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

生 shows 屮 (a bud) above 一 (the ground), drawing a sprout coming up from the earth.

Open 生 →

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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