药学 (yào xué) — pharmacy (the study of pharmaceutical science)

Definition

药学 is the academic discipline of pharmaceutical science — the study of drugs, not the profession of dispensing them (which is 药剂学 or the work of a 药剂师).

noun
pharmacy (the study of pharmaceutical science)

Examples

  • 药学。
    Tā dà xué xué de shì yào xué.
    He studied pharmacy in college.
  • 药学。
    yào xué Shì yì mén fēi cháng zhòng yào de xué kē.
    Pharmacy is a very important discipline.
  • 药学。
    Tā bì yè hòu zài yì jiā zhì yào gōng sī zuò yào xué yán jiū.
    After graduation, she does pharmacy research at a pharmaceutical company.

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.

药yàomedicine
学xuéstudy

The study of medicine.

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 藥; 药 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
艹Written in full as艸cǎograss
Sound part声符shēngfú
樂
樂lè藥yào
Same sound today

In the traditional form 藥, 艹 shows grass and 樂 gives the sound; this story is about 藥, not about the simplified 药.

Open 药 →

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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