留学
りゅうがく · ryuugaku · JLPT N3 · noun
studying abroad
✈️📚 留学 = stay + study: you stay in another country to study
留 (ryuu) means to stay or remain, as in 留守 (rusu, being away from home). 学 (gaku) is study, as in 学生 (gakusei, student). Staying somewhere to study is studying abroad. Chinese uses the same word: 留学 liúxué.
留 — 卯 (top) + 田 (field)
Originally a phono-semantic compound: 田 (field) suggests staying on the land, with 卯 hinting at the sound. Over time it came to mean 'remain, stay, keep,' as in keeping someone on the land or holding something in place. Modern uses include 留学 (study abroad) and 保留 (retain).
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'.