<p>放 has many meanings</p>
<blockquote>
<p>放 <a href="http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/862/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/862/</a></p>
<p><em>[1] let go; <strong>release</strong>; set free</em></p>
<p><em>[2] <strong>let out</strong>; dismiss; take leave</em></p>
<p>....</p>
</blockquote>
<p>学 in 放学 short for 学校 (school)</p>
<p>放学(school out) simply means  'be let out of school' or 'be released from school '</p>
<p>Examples for 放 as 'release ; let out':</p>
<ul>
<li><p>放监 = be released from jail</p>
</li>
<li><p>放工 = be released from work</p>
</li>
<li><p>放假 = be released for day off; take leave for holiday</p>
</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-02T18:19:16.707Z
2017-08-02T18:19:16.707Z
2020-06-17T09:50:11.587Z
Tang Ho
<p>I am trying to revive my knowledge of Chinese, having learned it some years ago. I was flicking through my old text book and came across the phrase "放学回家以后，。。。"</p>

<p>I remember reciting this (thinking back, we did a lot of phrase learning without understanding the characters involved and the sentence structure :/) but now when I am trying to pick apart the sentence, I don't understand what the 放 is doing. According to Google translate and line dictionary etc, 放 means to 'put/put in'. However 放学 is 'school'. But what about 学校, which is also 'school'?</p>

<p>In a nutshell, what does 放 mean in the sentence?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-02T16:23:48.780Z
you wrote: 放 means to 'put' - if you think of it as "put down" + "school" then we get to let out school or for school to be let out.
Mou某
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-02T16:57:02.310Z
Another common thing with 放 is 放假 *fàng jià* "go on vacation". Interestingly, here the metaphor of "putting down X" (as with 放学) seems to be going in the opposite direction.
haksayng
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-02T21:39:57.617Z
放学 （is even in IME editor) HSK dictionary: 放学（动）［离合词］学生上完当天的课离校（classes are over):还没～，你怎么走了？｜放了学我们去打网球，好吗？
user6065
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-08-03T07:25:20.853Z
放 = off, let ... away, don't limit, so that 放學 = let all student go home.
Daniel Yang
<word-choice><word><phrase>
Use of 放 in 放学 to mean school?
# Use of 放 in 放学 to mean school?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-08-02)

I am trying to revive my knowledge of Chinese, having learned it some years ago. I was flicking through my old text book and came across the phrase "放学回家以后，。。。"

I remember reciting this (thinking back, we did a lot of phrase learning without understanding the characters involved and the sentence structure :/) but now when I am trying to pick apart the sentence, I don't understand what the 放 is doing. According to Google translate and line dictionary etc, 放 means to 'put/put in'. However 放学 is 'school'. But what about 学校, which is also 'school'?

In a nutshell, what does 放 mean in the sentence?

**Tags:** word-choice, word, phrase

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: you wrote: 放 means to 'put' - if you think of it as "put down" + "school" then we get to let out school or for school to be let out.  
> **username_2**: Another common thing with 放 is 放假 *fàng jià* "go on vacation". Interestingly, here the metaphor of "putting down X" (as with 放学) seems to be going in the opposite direction.  
> **username_3**: 放学 （is even in IME editor) HSK dictionary: 放学（动）［离合词］学生上完当天的课离校（classes are over):还没～，你怎么走了？｜放了学我们去打网球，好吗？  
> **username_4**: 放 = off, let ... away, don't limit, so that 放學 = let all student go home.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_5 on 2017-08-02. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

放 has many meanings

> 放 <http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/dictionary/characters/862/>
>
> *[1] let go; **release**; set free*
>
> *[2] **let out**; dismiss; take leave*
>
> ....

学 in 放学 short for 学校 (school)

放学(school out) simply means 'be let out of school' or 'be released from school '

Examples for 放 as 'release ; let out':

* 放监 = be released from jail
* 放工 = be released from work
* 放假 = be released for day off; take leave for holiday


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