入学
rùxué · HSK 6
enter a school
🎒🏫 入 = enter + 学 = study/school — literally entering school
The first character 入 means to enter or go into. The second 学 means to study or refers to a school. Together they form the concept of enrolling or beginning school — stepping through the school gates for the first time.
入 — single pictograph, two slanting strokes
入 is a pictograph showing an arrowhead or pointed entrance, with two strokes converging downward to suggest something going inward. The original sense was 'to enter,' and it still carries that meaning today. It contrasts visually with 人 (person), where the strokes cross differently at the top.
学 — hands 𦥑 + roof 冖 + child 子
Originally 學, depicting two hands manipulating something (often interpreted as counting rods or the 爻 trigram symbols) under a roof, with a child 子 below — a child learning under instruction. The simplified form 学 replaces the top with a stylized 龸. Core meaning has always been 'to study, learn'.