退学
tuì xué · HSK 7
to quit school
🎒🚪 退 (withdraw) + 学 (study) = withdraw from study = quit school
退 tuì means to retreat or withdraw; 学 xué means study or school. Together: to withdraw oneself from school, i.e. to drop out or quit. Same 退 appears in 退休 (retire) and 退出 (exit).
退 — walk radical 辶 + 艮 (stop/halt)
退 combines the walking/movement radical 辶 with 艮, which carries a sense of stopping or turning back. Together they depict the action of moving backward or withdrawing. The original sense of retreating or stepping back has remained stable through history.
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'.