(kē) - branch of study, department, section in Mandarin
kēTraditional: 科
Translation
branch of study, department, section
Word origin
The character joins 禾 (hé, standing grain) and 斗 (dǒu, a measuring vessel). Grain sorted by the measure gave the sense of a category, and from there a branch of study.
- Origin
- compound character
- Root
- 禾 (hé, grain) + 斗 (dǒu, a measure)
Stroke order
科
Examples
。
He works in the internal medicine department of the hospital.
。
You should go to the dental department.
。
Maths is my favourite subject.
。
This university has a great many departments.
虎。
Cats and tigers belong to the same family.
科 (kē) is a division: a branch of knowledge, a department of a hospital or university, a section of an organisation, and in biology a family of species. It is the character behind 科学 (science), 学科 (academic discipline), 内科 (internal medicine) and 本科 (undergraduate study).
In a hospital it is the piece of vocabulary that gets you to the right desk. 内科 is internal medicine, 外科 is surgery, 牙科 is dentistry, 儿科 is paediatrics. Signs use these constantly and almost never spell them out.
The trap is trying to use 科 as a free-standing word for "subject". It works when counted, as in 三科 or 最喜欢的一科, but the ordinary word for a school subject is 科目 and for a university subject 专业. Left alone in a sentence, 科 sounds clipped and bookish.
Where this fits
Add to review queue
Track this word in your spaced-repetition queue and be tested on it at the right interval.
Go to my review queueMandarin · Free printables
科: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "科" (branch of study, department, section): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
Free for members
The printable worksheets, infographics and PDFs are free with an account. Start a free week and download as many as you like.
Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 53.