就学 Origin — Dong Chinese Dictionary

jiùxué

attend school

jiù just，then

Original meaning: high place

Phonosemantic compound. 京 represents the meaning and 尤 represents the sound. Based on the original meaning "high place". The meaning of this character has shifted over time and now means "achieve".

Components

京 Meaning component

jīng capital city

Change in meaning

京 hints at the original meaning of 就, "high place", which is no longer the most common meaning of 就 in modern Mandarin.

尤 Sound component

yóu especially

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Qin 221-206 BC

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

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Component uses

Sound (0 of 3 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	dzjuwH	[dz]u[k]-s	go to

說文解字

《說文》：“就，就高也。从京，从尤。尤，異於凡也。，籀文就。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.454
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

xué learning Simplified

Simplified form of 學. Depicts two hands (𦥑) teaching a child (子) under a roof (宀). 爻 represents the sound.

Components

◎ Simplified component

characterless component

Shorthand for the 𦥑 and 爻 components in the traditional character 學.

宀 Iconic component

mián roof

子 Iconic component

zi, zǐ child

Component uses

Sound (1)

Remnant (1)

Sources

Readings & variants: Unicode

xué learning Traditional

Depicts two hands (𦥑) teaching a child (子) under a roof (宀). 爻 represents the sound.

Components

𦥑 Iconic component

jú, jǔ, póu two hands

Depicts two hands.

爻 Sound component

yáo, xiào diagrams for divination

Change in sound

學 and 爻 don't sound similar in modern Mandarin due to historical phonetic changes. They were more similar in Middle Chinese.
學 haewk
爻 haew

宀 Iconic component

mián roof

Depicts a roof.

子 Iconic component

zi, zǐ child

Depicts a child.

Character Evolution

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Oracle form — Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Early Warring States ~400 BC

Bronze form — Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC

Seal form — Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Seal form — Seal Shuowen ~100 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Qin 221-206 BC

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Clerical form — Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD

Regular Modern

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Historical Pronunciations

	Middle Chinese	Old Chinese	Gloss
Baxter-Sagart	haewk	m-kˤruk	study; imitate

說文解字

《說文》：“斆，覺悟也。从教，从冖，冖，尚矇也，臼聲。學，篆文斅省。”

Sources

Character origin: 季旭昇《說文新證》p.247-248漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants: Unicode
Historical pronunciations: Baxter-Sagart
Historical images: Academia Sinica
Etymology: Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)