学期(xué qī) - term in Mandarin

学期 (xuéqī) is a "term" or "semester", the block of weeks a school or university year is divided into. 学 (xué) means "to study" and 期 (qī) means "period, stage", so together they name a study period.

Chinese schools usually run two 学期 (xuéqī) a year, 上学期 (shàng xuéqī), the "first term" (autumn), and 下学期 (xià xuéqī), the "second term" (spring), which is a cleaner split than the three-term British school year, so do not assume a one-to-one match when translating.

学期 (xuéqī) pairs naturally with 开始 (kāishǐ), "to start", and 结束 (jiéshù), "to end": 学期开始 (xuéqī kāishǐ) and 学期结束 (xuéqī jiéshù) are both extremely common in spoken and written Chinese about school life.