雇 (gù): to employ, to hire, to rent

雇 (gù) is a Chinese character meaning “to employ.” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 户 (phonetic) and 隹 (semantic). It ranks #1800 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 雇 bird. Its radical form 隹 (short-tailed bird) appears in many related characters such as 难 (nán, difficult (to...)), 集 (jí, to gather), 雄 (xióng, male).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to employ
  2. to hire
  3. to rent

Etymology & Origin

雇

pictophoneticbird

Decomposition: ⿸户隹 (layout: surround-from-upper-left)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

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

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
解雇verbjiě gùto fire
雇佣verbgù yōngto employ
雇员noungù yuánemployee
雇用verbgù yòngto employ
雇主noungù zhǔvariant of 雇主
劳雇关系láo gù guān xìrelations between labor and employer
受雇verbshòu gùto be employed
劳雇láo gùlabor and employer
贫雇农pín gù nóngpoor peasants (in Marxism)
雇凶verbgù xiōngto hire a hitman
雇佣兵noungù yōng bīng(military) mercenary
11
Total compounds
55
As first character
27
As last character
18
As middle character

雇 appears in 11 compound words: 55 as the first character, 27 as the last, and 18 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 雇 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

佣yòng
0.7457,247 co-occurrences
解jiě
0.4517,462 co-occurrences
员yuán
0.4465,930 co-occurrences
兵bīng
0.3992,462 co-occurrences
用yòng
0.3886,564 co-occurrences
主zhǔ
0.3818,178 co-occurrences
受shòu
0.3732,706 co-occurrences
聘pìn
0.367294 co-occurrences
凶xiōng
0.340106 co-occurrences
劳láo
0.336243 co-occurrences

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

学习雇字需要反复练习,才能写得工整。

xué xí gù zì xū yāo fǎn fù liàn xí , cái néng xiě dé gōng zhěng .

Mastering the character "雇" requires repeated practice to write it neatly.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

228连假三日 劳动部提醒雇主依法给假

2 2 8 lián jiǎ sān rì láo dòng bù tí xǐng gù zhǔ yī fǎ gěi jiǎ

228 Three days of consecutive holidays The Ministry of Labor reminds employers to give leave in accordance with the law

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

雇用安定措施延至7月 桃竹苗分署推“双轨补...

gù yòng ān dìng cuò shī yán zhì 7 yuè táo zhú miáo fēn shǔ tuī shuāng guǐ bǔ . . .

Employment stabilization measures postponed to July Taozhumiao Branch Office pushes "dual-track supplements...

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

劳工离职申请“服务证明书” 雇主拒发最重罚30万元

láo gōng lí zhí shēn qǐng fú wù zhèng míng shū gù zhǔ jù fā zuì chóng fá 3 0 wàn yuán

The employer refuses to issue a "service certificate" for a labor resignation and refuses to issue a maximum penalty of 300,000 yuan

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

年后转职注意! 雇主拒发服务证书最高罚30万元

nián hòu zhuǎn zhí zhù yì ! gù zhǔ jù fā fú wù zhèng shū zuì gāo fá 3 0 wàn yuán

Pay attention to changing jobs after the year! The maximum penalty for employers to refuse to issue service certificates is 300,000 yuan

東方日報Feb 2026

...外佣遭压榨 八成被剥夺权利 工会倡突击查雇主住所

. . . wài yòng zāo yā zhà bā chéng bèi bāo duó quán lì gōng huì chàng tū jī chá gù zhǔ zhù suǒ

... Foreign domestic helpers are oppressed and 80% are deprived of their rights Trade unions advocate raids on employers' residences

Tatoeba

私家侦探们受雇调查这桩奇怪的案件。

Sījiā zhēntànmen shòugù diàochá zhè zhuāng qíguài de ànjiàn.

Private detectives were hired to look into the strange case.

Tatoeba

汤姆已经雇了新律师。

Tāngmǔ yǐjīng gù le xīn lǜshī.

Tom has already hired a new lawyer.

Tatoeba

德国将禁止雇主在脸书上偷窥。

Déguó jiāng jìnzhǐ gùzhǔ zài Liǎnshū shàng tōukuī.

Germany is to ban employers from snooping on Facebook.

Tatoeba

汤姆要被解雇了,不是吗?

Tāngmǔ yào bèi jiěgù le, bùshìma?

Tom is going to be fired, isn't he?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 隹 (bird) component

隹 Radical Family — Characters sharing the short-tailed bird radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced gù

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 雇 (gù) mean in Chinese?
雇 (gù) primarily means "to employ." It is classified as HSK Level 7-9, making it an expert-level character. It ranks #1800 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 雇 and 驴?
雇 (gù) and 驴 (lǘ) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 隹 vs 马 (same 户 component).
How many strokes does 雇 have?
雇 is written with 12 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 雇?
The radical associated with 雇 is 隹 (short-tailed bird). This radical appears in many characters related to short-tailed bird.
What are the components of 雇?
雇 is composed of: 户 (phonetic), 隹 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿸户隹 with a surround-from-upper-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 雇?
Common words with 雇 include: 解雇 (jiě gù, "to fire"); 雇佣 (gù yōng, "to employ"); 雇员 (gù yuán, "employee"); 雇用 (gù yòng, "to employ"); 雇主 (gù zhǔ, "variant of 雇主"). There are over 11 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 雇 (gù)?
Several characters share the pronunciation gù: 故 (happening), 古 (ancient), 顾 (to look after), 姑 (aunt), and 2 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 雇 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 雇 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 雇 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken 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.