学费 from HSK Level 3 Vocabulary List

The Chinese word 学费 (xué fèi) for "tuition" is composed of two characters: 学 (xué), meaning "to learn" or "study", and 费 (fèi), meaning "fee" or "cost". Together, these characters convey the idea of a payment made for the purpose of education.The character 学 (xué) has a long history in Chinese, dating back to the oracle bone script of the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BCE). In its earliest form, the character depicted a person holding a bamboo slip, which was a common writing material in ancient China. Over time, the character evolved to its current form, which is composed of the radical 亻(rén), meaning "person", and the phonetic component 肖 (xiào), which is related to the idea of "learning" or "imitating".The character 费 (fèi) also has a long history in Chinese, dating back to the oracle bone script of the Shang dynasty. In its earliest form, the character depicted a person carrying a heavy object, symbolizing the idea of "burden" or "cost". Over time, the character evolved to its current form, which is composed of the radical 贝 (bèi), meaning "money" or "wealth", and the phonetic component 非 (fēi), which is related to the idea of "not" or "without".When combined, the characters 学 (xué) and 费 (fèi) form the compound word 学费 (xué fèi), which specifically refers to the fee paid for education. This term is commonly used in Chinese to refer to tuition fees charged by schools, universities, and other educational institutions.