学前教育 (xué qián jiào yù) — preschool education

Definition

noun

preschool education

学前教育。
xué qián jiào yù Duì hái zi de chéng zhǎng fēi cháng zhòng yào.
Preschool education is very important for children's development.
学前教育。
Tā zài yì suǒ yòu ér yuán fù zé xué qián jiào yù gōng zuò.
She is responsible for preschool education at a kindergarten.
学前教育。
Zhèng fǔ jìn nián jiā dà le duì xué qián jiào yù de tóu rù.
The government has increased investment in preschool education in recent years.

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.

学前before school

偏正Modifier + head

教育education

联合Side by side

The sense of 学前 'before school' joins with 教育 'education' to mean learning before formal schooling.

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 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.

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

In the older form of 前, 止 (foot) and 舟 (boat) showed a foot on a boat moving forward; in the current 前 those parts are shortened.

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

子子zǐchild

攵Written in full as攴pūteaching cane; stick that represents authority

Sound part声符shēngfú

爻

爻yáo教jiào

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

教 uses 爻 for its sound and puts 子 (child) with 攵 (攴), a teaching cane, to show teaching a child.

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.