Kilo Lingo

(gōng zuò) - work, job, to work in Mandarin

gōngzuò

Traditional: 工作

Line drawing of 工作
Coloured illustration of 工作
HSK 1
#126 of 5,000 Core 1000

Translation

work, job, to work

Word origin

A compound of 工 (gong) 'work, labour', a pictograph of a carpenter's square or tool, and 作 (zuo) 'to do, to make', which has the 亻 'person' radical. Together: 'work, to work'.

Origin
compound
Root
工 (gong, 'work', pictograph of a tool) + 作 (zuo, 'to do', 亻person radical)

Stroke order

Stroke order for 工

Stroke order for 作

Examples

I am working.

How is your job?

Work is very busy.

I am planning to change jobs.

Her job is very stressful.

工作 (gōng zuò) means work, job, to work. It is used as a noun in everyday Mandarin speech.

Used in

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This word is part of lesson 3.