学校
がっこう · gakkou · JLPT N5 · noun
school
🏫 学校 = study (学) + school building (校)
学 means learning, as in 学生 (student). 校 means a school building, as in 校長 (principal). Sound hook: gakkou starts like gaku (learning) with the k doubled, so it is the learning place: gak-kou.
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'.