奖学金

Etymology & Components

The Chinese word 奖学金 (jiǎngxuéjīn) is a compound of three characters: 奖 (jiǎng), meaning "award" or "prize"; 学 (xué), meaning "study" or "learning"; and 金 (jīn), meaning "gold" or "money". Together, these characters form the term "scholarship", which refers to a financial award given to a student to support their education.The character 奖 (jiǎng) has a long history in Chinese, dating back to the Shang dynasty (c. 1600-1046 BC). It was originally used to refer to a type of military award, but over time it came to be used more broadly to refer to any kind of prize or award. The character 学 (xué) also has a long history, dating back to the Zhou dynasty (c. 1046-256 BC). It was originally used to refer to the process of learning, but over time it came to be used more broadly to refer to education in general. The character 金 (jīn) is one of the most common characters in Chinese, and it has a wide range of meanings, including "gold", "money", and "metal".The term 奖学金 (jiǎngxuéjīn) first appeared in Chinese in the early 20th century. It was borrowed from the Japanese language, where it is pronounced "shōgakukin". The term quickly gained popularity in China, and it is now the standard term for "scholarship".