The word 功课 is formed by combining two meaningful characters: 功, which conveys the idea of disciplined effort, achievement, or work, and 课, which refers to a lesson, subject, or course of study. Their combination is a semantic fusion where the concept of "lesson" is fundamentally linked to the concept of "work" or "task", creating the integrated idea of study-work or assigned academic tasks, essentially, the work of a lesson, which is naturally understood as schoolwork or homework.