留学
liúxué · HSK 3
study abroad
🎓✈️ 留学 = 留 (stay/remain) + 学 (study) — stay-and-study, i.e. study abroad
留 means to stay or remain; 学 means to study or learn. Together: remain somewhere (abroad) to study. The pronunciation liúxué stacks two rising tones, matching the two-character compound.
留 — 卯 (top) + 田 (field)
Originally a phono-semantic compound: 田 (field) suggests staying on the land, with 卯 hinting at the sound. Over time it came to mean 'remain, stay, keep,' as in keeping someone on the land or holding something in place. Modern uses include 留学 (study abroad) and 保留 (retain).
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'.