工科
gōng kē · HSK 7
engineering as an academic subject
⚙️🎓 工科 = 工 (work/craft) + 科 (subject/branch)
工 means work or labor (think of a carpenter's square tool). 科 means an academic branch or department. Together: the work-branch of study, i.e. engineering as a school subject.
科 — grain 禾 + measure 斗
科 combines 禾 (grain) and 斗 (a dipper/measure), originally depicting the act of measuring or grading grain. From this, it extended to mean classification, category, and branch of study. Today it commonly appears in words for science (科学) and academic disciplines.