校风 (xiào fēng) — school spirit, school atmosphere, institutional culture of a school

Definition

校风 (xiào fēng) refers to the overall culture and atmosphere of a school — its shared values, discipline, and traditions as felt across the institution.

noun
school spirit, school atmosphere, institutional culture of a school

Examples

  • 校风，。
    Zhè suǒ xué xiào de xiào fēng hěn hǎo, xué shēng dōu hěn shǒu jì lǜ.
    This school has a great atmosphere — the students are all very disciplined.
  • 校风。
    Xué xiào lǐng dǎo fēi cháng zhòng shì xiào fēng jiàn shè.
    The school leadership places great importance on building school culture.
  • 校风。
    Yōu liáng de xiào fēng néng cù jìn xué shēng quán miàn fā zhǎn.
    A good school atmosphere can promote students' all-round development.

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.

校xiàoschool
风fēngspirit/atmosphere

校 contributes the school, and 风 contributes the prevailing spirit or atmosphere.

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
木木mùtree
Sound part声符shēngfú
交
交jiāo校jiào
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

校 is built from 木 (tree) on the left and 交 on the right, which supplies the sound.

Open 校 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 风 →

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