TongTong
Sign in

公布 (gōng bù) — to announce, to make public, to publish

Definition

公布 (gōngbù) means an authority (government, company, organization) formally releases information to the public. Unlike 发表 or 出版, it is not for personal articles or books; the subject is typically an official body.

verb
to announceto make publicto publish

Examples

  • 公布。
    Zhǔ xí gōng bù le huì yì ān pái.
    The chair announced the meeting arrangements.
  • 公布。
    Gōng sī gōng bù le xīn chǎn pǐn de jià gé.
    The company published the price of the new product.
  • 公布。
    Zhèng fǔ gōng bù le zuì xīn de tǒng jì shù jù.
    The government released the latest statistics.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

公gōngpublic
布bùannounce

“公” means public and “布” means announce, so the word means to make something public.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

One theory sees 公 as a picture of a wide-mouthed, round-bottomed jar.

Open 公 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
巾巾jīnkerchief
Sound part声符shēngfú
父
父fù布bù
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

布 pairs 巾, a kerchief, with 父 as a sound part.

Open 布 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 5HSK 2.0 Level 5Media & News5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

Browse more HSK 5 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.