讲学
jiǎng xué · HSK 7
to lecture (on branch of learning)
🎓🗣️ 讲学 = 讲 (to speak/explain) + 学 (study/learning) = to lecture on a field of study
讲 carries the sense of speaking or expounding; 学 means study or a branch of learning. Together they name the act of giving an academic talk — speaking on a subject of learning.
讲 — speech radical 讠 + 井 (well)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 讠 (simplified form of 言, 'speech') gives the meaning, indicating something spoken or explained. The right side 冓 (simplified to 井-like form) originally suggested interlocking structure and provided the sound. Together it means to speak, explain, or tell.
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'.