恭 (gōng): respectful
恭 (gōng) is a Chinese character meaning “respectful.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 共 (phonetic) and ⺗ (semantic). It ranks #1726 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 恭 heart. Its radical form 忄 (heart) appears in many related characters such as 忙 (máng, busy), 快 (kuài, fast, happy), 怎 (zěn, how).
Definitions
- respectful
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 恭 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 恭
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 恭维 | gōng wei | to praise |
| 洗耳恭听 | xǐ ěr gōng tīng | to listen with respectful attention |
| 恭候 | gōng hòu | to look forward to sth |
| 玩世不恭 | wán shì bù gōng | to trifle without respect (idiom) |
| 恭敬 | gōng jìng | deferential |
| 谦恭 | qiān gōng | polite and modest |
| 毕恭毕敬 | bì gōng bì jìng | reverent and respectful |
| 恭贺 | gōng hè | to congratulate respectfully |
| 恭顺 | gōng shùn | deferential |
| 恭祝 | gōng zhù | to congratulate respectfully |
| 恭喜发财 | gōng xǐ fā cái | May you have a prosperous New Year! (New Year's greeting) |
| 却之不恭 | què zhī bù gōng | to refuse would be impolite |
| 恭敬不如从命 | gōng jìng bù rú cóng mìng | deference is no substitute for obedience (idiom) |
| 不敢恭维 | bù gǎn gōng wei | to be underwhelmed |
| 恭城瑶族自治县 | gōng chéng yáo zú zì zhì xiàn | Gongcheng Yao Autonomous County, in Guilin City 桂林市[Gui4 lin2 Shi4], Guangxi |
恭 appears in 34 compound words: 50 as the first character, 29 as the last, and 21 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 恭 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (10)
Happy New Year (congratulations and best wishes for a prosperous Chinese New Year)
Showing 9 of 10 idioms containing 恭.
Example Sentences
看到孩子的进步，父母恭中十分欣慰。
kàn dào hái zǐ de jìn bù , fù mǔ gōng zhōng shí fēn xīn wèi .
Seeing their child's progress, the parents were deeply gratified.
拿尼克森、连战比拟 张荣恭:郑丽文访陆获高规格
ná ní kè sēn , lián zhàn bǐ nǐ zhāng róng gōng : zhèng lí wén fǎng lù huò gāo guī gé
郑丽文访陆 张荣恭指邀访方式比照2005年“连胡会”
zhèng lí wén fǎng lù zhāng róng gōng zhǐ yāo fǎng fāng shì bǐ zhào 2 0 0 5 nián lián hú huì
恭喜!杨筑云林芷均闯奥尔良羽赛冠军战
gōng xǐ ! yáng zhù yún lín 芷 jūn chuǎng ào ěr liáng yǔ sài guàn jūn zhàn
Congratulations! Yang Zhu and Lin Zhijun Advance to the Final of the Orleans Badminton Tournament
古天乐收冯素波利是表现恭敬 逐一与粉丝握手:觉得比钱更紧要
gǔ tiān lè shōu píng sù bō lì shì biǎo xiàn gōng jìng zhú yī yǔ fěn sī wò shǒu : jué dé bǐ qián gēng jǐn yāo
Louis Koo accepted Feng Supoli as a respectful gesture and shook hands with fans one by one: I feel that it is more important than money
没有人向他恭敬地鞠躬。
Méiyǒu rén xiàng tā gōngjìng de jūgōng.
No one respectfully bowed towards him.
我听说你通过了入学考试。恭喜你了！
Wǒ tīngshuō nǐ tōngguò le rùxué kǎoshì. Gōngxǐ nǐ le!
I hear you passed the entrance exam. Congratulations!
那我就恭敬不如从命啦。
Nà wǒ jiù gōngjìngbùrúcóngmìng lā.
Then I'll work on the principle that deference is no substitute for obedience.
恭子正躺在草地上。
Gōng zǐ zhèng tǎng zài cǎodì shàng.
Kyoko is lying on the grass.
他为我的成功恭贺我。
Tā wèi wǒ de chénggōng gōnghè wǒ.
He congratulated me on my success.
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 恭 (gōng) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 恭 and 哄?
How many strokes does 恭 have?
What is the radical of 恭?
What are the components of 恭?
What are common words containing 恭?
What characters sound the same as 恭 (gōng)?
Is 恭 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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