大学
だいがく · daigaku · JLPT N5 · noun
university
🎓🏫 大学 = big (大 dai) + learning (学 gaku): the big school
大 means big and 学 means study or learning, so a university is literally the place of big learning. The same 学 appears in 学生 (gakusei, student) and 学校 (gakkou, school), with 大学 as the top tier above them.
大 — pictograph of a person with arms outstretched
大 is a pictograph showing a person standing with arms and legs spread wide. The outstretched arms suggest 'big' or 'great', extending from the literal image of a large stance to abstract meanings like important or grand. It is one of the oldest characters, found on oracle bones.
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'.