课

Etymology & Components

The Chinese character 课 (kè) is composed of two parts: the radical 讠 (yán), which indicates that the character is related to speech or language, and the phonetic component 课 (kè), which gives the character its pronunciation. The original meaning of 课 was "to teach" or "to give a lesson", and it was often used in the context of education. Over time, the meaning of 课 expanded to include other related concepts, such as "a class" or "a lesson". In modern Chinese, 课 is commonly used to refer to a class or a lesson in school, but it can also be used in a more general sense to refer to any type of learning or teaching activity.