史学 (shǐ xué) — historiography

Definition

史学 (shǐxué) is the formal, academic field name for 'historiography' — the study of how history is written and interpreted. Distinct from 历史 (lìshǐ, the more common everyday word for 'history' as the subject or past events).

noun
historiography

Examples

  • 史学。
    Tā zhǔ xiū de lì shǐ zhuān yè zhòng diǎn zài shǐ xué fāng miàn.
    His history major focused on historiography.
  • 史学。
    Zhè piān lùn wén tàn tǎo le zhōng guó gǔ dài shǐ xué de fā zhǎn.
    This paper discusses the development of Chinese historiography.
  • 史学，。
    shǐ xué Bù jǐn jì lù shì shí, hái fēn xī shǐ liào de kě kào xìng.
    Historiography not only records facts but also analyzes the reliability of historical sources.

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.

史shǐhistory
学xuéstudy

史 refers to history and 学 to study, together naming the study of history.

Characters in this word

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

The old drawing showed someone holding a flag-like or writing tool, indicating the act of recording events; the exact inner shape is unclear.

Open 史 →

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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