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勤杂工 (qín zá gōng) — handyman; odd-job man

Definition

A worker hired for miscellaneous odd jobs and small repairs around a workplace or home, like fixing equipment or cleaning up.

noun
handymanodd-job man
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 勤杂工。
    Wǒ men gōng sī de qín zá gōng fù zé xiū lǐ gè zhǒng shè bèi.
    Our company's handyman is responsible for repairing various equipment.
  • 勤杂工。
    Tā zhǎo le yí gè qín zá gōng lái bāng máng dǎ sǎo yuàn zi.
    He hired a handyman to help clean the yard.
  • 勤杂工，。
    Zhè wèi qín zá gōng shǒu yì hěn hǎo, shén me dōu huì xiū.
    This handyman is very skilled and can fix anything.

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.

勤杂work and miscellaneous tasks
勤qínwork杂zámiscellaneous
联合Coordinate
工gōngworker

勤杂 covers work and miscellaneous tasks, and 工 is the worker who does them.

Characters in this word

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 勤 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 雜; 杂 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
衣衣yī
Sound part声符shēngfú
集
集jí雜zá
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 雜 pairs 衣 (clothes) with 集 as a sound part, originally referring to mixed colours, perhaps in dyed clothes; the simplified 杂 is a later shorthand.

Open 杂 →

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
Professions & Jobs

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