科目(kē mù) - subject in Mandarin

科目 (kēmù) is a school subject, the formal word for one strand of the timetable such as 数学 (shùxué), maths, or 地理 (dìlǐ), geography. 科 (kē) on its own can mean "branch" or "department" and 目 (mù) means "item" or "category", so together the compound reads as "branch item", a category of study.

Use the measure word 门 (mén) when counting subjects: 三门科目 (sān mén kēmù), "three subjects", the same measure word used for 课 (kè), lessons, and for university courses generally. This trips up learners who default to 个 (gè) for everything.

You will see 科目 (kēmù) most often in formal contexts, timetables, school prospectuses, exam entry forms, rather than in casual talk about the school day, where speakers tend to just name the subject directly (数学课 shùxué kè, "maths class") rather than reaching for the umbrella word.