工 (gōng): work, worker, skill
工 (gōng) is a Chinese character meaning “work.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 一 (structural) and 丄 (structural). It ranks #118 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically pictographic, 工 a spade or other workman's tool. Its radical form 工 (work) appears in many related characters such as 左 (zuǒ, left), 差 (chā, difference), 巧 (qiǎo, opportunely).
Definitions
- work
- worker
- skill
Etymology & Origin
pictographicA spade or other workman's tool
Decomposition: ⿱一丄 (layout: top-bottom)
Stroke Order
Practice writing 工 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 工
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | HSK |
|---|---|---|---|
| 工作verb/noun | gōng zuò | to work | 1 |
| 员工noun | yuán gōng | staff | 5 |
| 工具noun | gōng jù | tool | 5 |
| 工厂noun | gōng chǎng | factory | 4 |
| 工人noun | gōng rén | worker | 4 |
| 工资noun | gōng zī | wages | 4 |
| 工程noun | gōng chéng | engineering | 5 |
| 工程师noun | gōng chéng shī | engineer | 5 |
| 打工verb | dǎ gōng | to work a temporary or casual job | 4 |
| 工业noun | gōng yè | industry | 5 |
| 手工 | shǒu gōng | handwork | 5 |
| 人工adjective/noun | rén gōng | artificial | 5 |
| 工地noun | gōng dì | construction site | 6 |
| 工夫noun | gōng fū | (old) laborer | 6 |
| 加工verb | jiā gōng | to process | 5 |
| 人工智能 | rén gōng zhì néng | artificial intelligence (AI) | 6 |
| 职工noun | zhí gōng | employee | 5 |
| 工艺noun | gōng yì | arts and crafts | 5 |
| 分工verb | fēn gōng | to divide up the work | 6 |
| 工作日noun | gōng zuò rì | workday | 3 |
| 工序noun | gōng xù | working procedure | 6 |
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 罢工 | bà gōng | a strike |
| 工会 | gōng huì | labor union |
| 工钱 | gōng qián | salary |
| 管工 | guǎn gōng | plumber |
| 电工 | diàn gōng | electrician |
| 工头 | gōng tóu | foreman |
| 技工 | jì gōng | skilled worker |
| 工藤 | gōng téng | Kudō (Japanese surname) |
| 工蚁 | gōng yǐ | worker ant |
| 工匠 | gōng jiàng | artisan |
工 appears in 100 compound words: 58 as the first character, 41 as the last, and 1 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 工 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (24)
superlative craftsmanship; supernaturally fine craft (as if done by the spirits)
Showing 12 of 24 idioms containing 工.
Example Sentences
他在一家互联网公司工作，每天都很忙碌但也很充实。
Tā zài yī jiā hùliánwǎng gōngsī gōngzuò, měitiān dōu hěn mánglù dàn yě hěn chōngshí.
He works at an internet company and is busy every day but also very fulfilled.
爱读书的工地大叔走红后第一个春节:继续种地、看书,...
ài dòu shū de gōng dì dà shū zǒu hóng hòu dì yī gè chūn jié : jì xù zhǒng dì , kàn shū , . . .
The first Spring Festival after the construction site uncle who loves to read became popular: continue to farm and read,...
多国媒体:春晚人形机器人表演展现中国人工智能飞速发..
duō guó méi tī chūn wǎn rén xíng jī qì rén biǎo yǎn zhǎn xiàn zhōng guó rén gōng zhì néng fēi sù fā . .
Multinational media: Spring Festival Gala humanoid robot performance shows China's rapid development of artificial intelligence...
伊朗总统:伊朗愿就其核工业和平性质接受任何形式核查
yī lǎng zǒng tǒng yī lǎng yuàn jiù qí hé gōng yè hé píng xìng zhì jiē shòu rèn hé xíng shì hé chá
Iranian President: Iran is ready to accept any form of verification of the peaceful nature of its nuclear industry
大年初一,浙大发顶刊论文:用人工智能为膜蛋白造“装..
dà nián chū yī , zhè dà fā dǐng kān lún wén yòng rén gōng zhì néng wéi mó dàn bái zào zhuāng . .
On New Year's Day, Zhejiang University publishes top-tier journal paper: Using AI to "dress" membrane proteins...
「春节在岗职工电台」敬你的坚守,敬你的努力!
chūn jié zài gāng zhí gōng diàn tái jìng nǐ de jiān shǒu , jìng nǐ de nǔ lì !
"Spring Festival On-Duty Workers Radio" To your dedication, to your hard work!
嗨！你在这儿工作吗？
Hāi! Nǐ zài zhèr gōngzuò ma?
Hi! Do you work here?
我？鼓励你去工作？不可能！
Wǒ? gǔlì nǐ qù gōngzuò? bù kěnéng!
Me? Encourage you to work? Blasphemy!
他在哪家公司工作？
Tā zài nǎ jiā gōngsī gōngzuò?
Where does he work?
你把工作做完了没有？
Nǐ bǎ gōngzuò zuòwán le méiyǒu?
Are you through with the work?
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 工 (gōng) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 工 have?
What is the radical of 工?
What are the components of 工?
What are common words containing 工?
What characters sound the same as 工 (gōng)?
Is 工 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 工 with real-time feedback
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