备课
bèi kè · HSK 7
(of a teacher) to prepare lessons
📚 备 (prepare/equip) + 课 (lesson) = equip the lesson
备 means to prepare or equip, as in 准备. 课 means lesson or class. Together they describe a teacher getting materials and plans ready before walking into the classroom.
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'.