逃学 (táo xué) — to play truant; to skip class/school (without p… | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A verb meaning to skip school without permission (playing truant). Often fixed as 逃学 or used in the separable form 逃了几天学, where 学 acts as the object.

verb

to play truantto skip class/school (without permission)

Examples

逃学，。
Tā jīng cháng táo xué, lǎo shī hěn bù gāo xìng.
He often skips school; the teacher is very unhappy.
。
Wǒ cóng lái méi táo guò xué.
I have never skipped school.
。
Tā yīn wèi shēng bìng cái táo le liǎng tiān xué.
He only skipped two days of school because he was sick.

Origin

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

逃 (escape) + 学 (school) means to escape from school.

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.

辶兆逃

Meaning part形符xíngfú

辶Written in full as辵chuòwalk

Sound part声符shēngfú

兆

兆zhào逃táo

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

逃 pairs 辶 (walk) with 兆, which gives the pronunciation.

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.

爻爻yáo
六六liù

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.

Appears in

School & Education

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