専攻
せんこう · senkou · JLPT N3 · noun
subject
🎓📚 専攻 = exclusive + attack: the one subject you go after full-time
専 means exclusive or specialised (as in 専門, speciality), and 攻 means to attack or assault. A major is the field you single out and attack with all your effort. The same 攻 shows up in 攻撃, attack.
攻 — 工 (gōng, phonetic) + 攵 (strike/action)
A semantic-phonetic compound: 攵 (a hand holding a stick) gives the meaning of striking or attacking, while 工 supplies the sound. Originally meaning to attack militarily, it later extended to 'work on' or 'study intensively,' as in 攻读.