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农民工 (nóng mín gōng) — (in China) rural-to-urban migrant worker

Definition

A farmer who has left the countryside to work in a city. More specific than 农民, which simply means a farmer / peasant working the land.

noun
(in China) rural-to-urban migrant worker
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 农民工，（yī）。
    Hěn duō nóng mín gōng zài chéng shì gōng zuò, yī (yī) nián zhī huí yí cì jiā.
    Many migrant workers work in the city and only go home once a year.
  • 农民工，。
    nóng mín gōng Guò nián shí cái huí jiā, yīn wèi chē piào nán mǎi.
    Migrant workers go home only at Chinese New Year because tickets are hard to get.
  • 农民工，。
    Zhè xiē nóng mín gōng xī wàng dé dào gèng hǎo de dài yù, gǎi shàn shēng huó.
    These migrant workers hope to get better treatment and improve their lives.

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.

农民farmer
农nóngagriculture民mínpeople
偏正Modifier + head
工gōngworker

农 (agriculture), 民 (people), and 工 (worker) combine to mean a worker from a farming community.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 農; 农 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 農 comes from 林 (vegetation) and 辰 (a hoe), showing a hoe among vegetation to remove weeds; the simplified 农 is a later abbreviation.

Open 农 →

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

The early form of 民 shows an eye pierced by a sharp cross-shaped implement, possibly linked to an injured or unclear eye.

Open 民 →

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

The shape of 工 is a picture of a bladed tool used to plow ground or mark a border; some read it as a carpenter's square.

Open 工 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9

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