医学
yīxué · HSK 4
medicine
⚕️ 医学 = 医 (medicine/doctor) + 学 (study) — the study of medicine
医 means doctor or medicine (originally a quiver holding arrows for treating wounds), and 学 means to study or learn. Together 医学 literally reads as medicine-study, i.e. medical science.
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'.