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教育 (jiào yù) — education; to educate, to teach

Definition

教育 covers both the noun 'education' (a system or process) and the verb 'to educate' in a broad, general sense. As a verb it is more abstract than 教, which focuses on the act of teaching a skill or subject.

educationto educateto teach

Examples

  • 教育。
    Fù mǔ yīng gāi jiào yù hái zi.
    Parents should educate their children.
  • 教育。
    Tā jiē shòu le hǎo de jiào yù.
    He received a good education.
  • 教育。
    Guó jiā hěn zhòng shì jiào yù.
    The country attaches great importance to education.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

教jiàoteach
育yùnurture

教 (teach) and 育 (nurture) combine to mean education.

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
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.

Open 教 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 育 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 4HSK 2.0 Level 4School & Education3000 Most Frequent Chinese Words5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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