下课
xiàkè · HSK 1
finish class
🔔 下课 = 下 (down/off) + 课 (class) — class lets out
下 means down or off, and 课 means class or lesson. Together 下课 literally reads as off-class — the moment a lesson ends. Pairs with 上课 (shàngkè, start class), where 上 means up/on.
下 — horizontal line 一 + mark below
下 is an indicative character: a long horizontal line represents a reference level, and a shorter stroke placed beneath it points to the area below. The original meaning 'below, down' comes directly from this spatial diagram, and it later extended to verbs like 'descend' and 'lower'.
课 — speech radical 讠(言) + fruit/result 果
课 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 讠(言 'speech') gives the meaning, since the original sense involved oral examination or assessment. The right side 果 ('fruit, result') supplies the sound 'guǒ', which shifted to 'kè'. The meaning later broadened from 'test' to 'lesson' or 'class'.