Sinograph Addenda · Signs

learn

Name	learn
Reads	xué
Means	to learn, study; learning
Taught in	08 · Already, and at last

Where it comes from

Two hands work crossed counting-rods above a roof, and beneath the roof stands the child 子 — instruction drawn as a building: the classic account. It is the first character of the Analects and the verb of this whole school of writing systems. Taught in the already chapter.

How to remember it

Hands above, child below, the roof of the school between: learn.

In the wild

學而不思則罔。xué ér bù sī zé wǎng"learn without thinking, and nothing sticks" — cramming without digesting leaves you as lost as before; the other half turns the blade around: thinking without learning is dangerous.

Analects 2.15. urn:nabu:kanripo:KR1h0004:002:16a · license: attribution.