(gōng): to attack, to accuse, to study

(gōng) is a Chinese character meaning “to attack.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (phonetic) and (semantic). It ranks #588 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, rap. Its radical form (rap) appears in many related characters such as (fàng, to put, to release), (jiào, (bound form) to teach), (shōu, to receive).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to attack
  2. to accuse
  3. to study

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticrap

Decomposition: ⿰工攵 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Practice writing with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
verbgōng jīto attack6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
jìn gōngto attack
gōng shì(military) offensive
wéi gōngto besiege
gōng dǎto attack (the enemy)
gōng kèto capture
gōng pòto make a breakthrough
gōng zhànto seize control of (an enemy position)
zhuān gōngto specialize in
zhù gōng(military) to mount a secondary attack
fǎn gōngto counterattack
zhǔ gōngmain assault
měng gōngto attack violently
gōng xiànto capture (a fortress, city etc)
gōng dúto major (in a field)
kuài gōngfast break
69
Total compounds
42
As first character
25
As last character
33
As middle character

appears in 69 compound words: 42 as the first character, 25 as the last, and 33 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

0.622182,062 co-occurrences
xīn
0.56117 co-occurrences
jìn
0.522155,058 co-occurrences
xiàn
0.52141,982 co-occurrences
zhàn
0.49252,926 co-occurrences
měng
0.47314,538 co-occurrences
0.46393,174 co-occurrences
shì
0.45522,050 co-occurrences
wéi
0.44631,650 co-occurrences
zhù
0.44462,088 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (8)

bùgōngzìpòHSK 6+

to collapse of itself (of a rumor, etc.); to be discredited

phrase
fànqì gōngxīnHSK 6+

to suffer a food coma

phrase
gōngchénglüèdìHSK 6+

alternative form of 攻城掠地 (gōngchénglüèdì)

phrase
gōngqíbùbèiHSK 6+

to attack when the enemy is unprepared

phrase
gōngqíwúbèiHSK 6+

to attack when the enemy is unprepared

phrase
nù qì gōng xīnHSK 6+

(TCM) sudden strong emotions attacking the heart, leading to faints etc; (fig.) to fly into a fit of anger

phrase
yǐdúgōngdúHSK 6+

to fight fire with fire

phrase
yì shǒu nán gōngHSK 6+

easily guarded, hard to attack

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

球队发起了猛烈的进,试图打破僵局。

Qiúduì fāqǐ le měngliè de jīngōng, shìtú dǎpò jiāngjú.

The team launched a fierce attack, trying to break the deadlock.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

武嚇 紐時:川普擬分2階段伊朗

wén gōng wǔ 嚇 紐 時 chuān pǔ 擬 fēn 階 duàn gōng yī lǎng

Threats and Pressure: NYT Reports Trump Plans Two-Stage Attack on Iran

鉅亨網 - 財經新聞、全球指數、股市報價、商品行情、理財投資Feb 2026

...通訊、航太發展 外資看好回補5500張助漲停

. . . tōng 訊 háng tài 發 zhǎn wài 資 kàn hǎo huí 補 張 zhù gōng 漲 tíng

Communications and aerospace sectors gain foreign investor favor; 5,500 shares repurchased to propel stock to limit-up

马来西亚诗华日报新闻网Feb 2026

疑情绪失控随机击!七旬翁晨运突遭男子压制割颈

yí qíng xù shī kòng suí jī gōng jī ! qī xún wēng chén yùn tū zāo nán zǐ yā zhì gē jǐng

Suspect Loses Control in Random Attack! Elderly Man in His 70s Groped and Slashed in the Neck During Morning Exercise

NewtalkFeb 2026

中國網軍4千帳戶擊高市早苗 矢板明夫:台日兩國正面對相同...

zhōng 國 網 軍 qiān 帳 戶 gōng 擊 gāo shì zǎo miáo shǐ bǎn míng fū tái rì 兩 國 zhèng miàn 對 xiāng tóng . . .

China's 4,000 accounts attacked Hayao Takaichi, Yaban Akio: Taiwan and Japan are facing the same...

StheadlineFeb 2026

...|伊媒:一旦開戰特朗普家族在中東項目將成擊目標

. . . yī méi yī dàn 開 戰 tè lǎng pǔ jiā zú zài zhōng 東 項 mù 將 chéng gōng 擊 mù 標

... |Imperialist Press:Trump family projects in the Middle East will be targeted in case of war

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

五特隊躍領漲先鋒 將是大盤上衝34,000點...

wǔ tè gōng 隊 躍 領 漲 xiān 鋒 將 shì dà 盤 shàng 衝 , 點 . . .

Five Special Attack Teams are leading the way for the market to reach 34,000...

Tatoeba

您专于中医的什么领域?

Nín zhuāngōng yú Zhōngyī de shénme lǐngyù?

Which aspects of Chinese medicine do you specialise in?

Tatoeba

第一次击错过了目标。

Dìyīcì gōngjī cuòguò le mùbiāo.

The first attack missed the target.

Tatoeba

敌人对我们发起了击。

Dírén duì wǒmen fāqǐ le gōngjī.

The enemy has attacked us.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced gōng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 攻 (gōng) mean in Chinese?
攻 (gōng) primarily means "to attack." It is classified as HSK Level 6, making it an advanced character. It ranks #588 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 攻 and 防?
攻 (gōng) and 防 (fáng) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 攻 (attack) vs 防 (defend).
How many strokes does 攻 have?
攻 is written with 7 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 攻?
The radical associated with 攻 is 攵 (rap). This radical appears in many characters related to rap.
What are the components of 攻?
攻 is composed of: 工 (phonetic), 攵 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰工攵 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 攻?
Common words with 攻 include: 攻击 (gōng jī, "to attack"); 进攻 (jìn gōng, "to attack"); 攻势 (gōng shì, "(military) offensive"); 围攻 (wéi gōng, "to besiege"); 攻打 (gōng dǎ, "to attack (the enemy)"). There are over 69 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 攻 (gōng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation gōng: 巩 ((bound form) to fix in place), 贡 (to offer tribute). Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 攻 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 攻 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.