～科
～か · ～ka · JLPT N2 · noun
course
🌾 科 = 禾 grain + 斗 measuring dipper: grain sorted by grade, so a category
Added after a noun, ～科 names a class or branch. In biology it means family: ネコ科 (neko-ka) is the cat family. At school or in a hospital it means a department or course: 英文科 is the English literature course, and 内科 is internal medicine.
科 — grain 禾 + measure 斗
科 combines 禾 (grain) and 斗 (a dipper/measure), originally depicting the act of measuring or grading grain. From this, it extended to mean classification, category, and branch of study. Today it commonly appears in words for science (科学) and academic disciplines.