学校

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. 私の学校は駅の近くです。▶ —
   My school is near the station.
2. 毎日学校に行きます。▶ —
   I go to school every day.

Collocations

Mnemonic

がっこう — 学校, Sino-Japanese. The Korean reading hakgyo is the direct cousin. Same kanji, same meaning — 学 (learn) + 校 (school). A flagship case where Korean, Chinese, and Japanese share the same two characters for the same concept. The fun part: the level-compounds line up almost 1:1 with Korean — 小学校 shougakkou: elementary school. 中学校 chuugakkou: middle school. 高校 koukou: high school — a contracted form of 高等学校. 大学 daigaku: university — at the university level, the character 校 drops away. Three East Asian languages mapping their school vocabulary character-for-character. You meet these characters again in Mandarin Roots, as 学 / 校.

Quick check

1. Which Japanese word means "junior high school"?

   • 中学校 chuugakkou
   • 小学校 shougakkou (elementary)
   • 高校 koukou (high school)
   • 大学 daigaku (university)