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化工 (huà gōng) — chemical industry; chemical engineering (as a field of study or practice)

Definition

Abbreviation for 化学工业 ('chemical industry') and by extension 化学工程 ('chemical engineering'). It functions as a modifier for sectors, majors, and plants — e.g. 化工厂 (chemical plant), 化工专业 (chemical engineering major).

noun
chemical industrychemical engineering (as a field of study or practice)

Examples

  • 化工。
    Tā dà xué xué de shì huà gōng zhuān yè.
    He studied chemical engineering as his major in college.
  • 化工。
    Zhè ge chéng shì de huà gōng chǎn yè fēi cháng fā dá.
    The chemical industry in this city is very developed.
  • 。
    huà gōng Chǎng bì xū yán gé zūn shǒu huán bǎo guī dìng.
    Chemical plants must strictly follow environmental regulations.

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.

化huàchemical
工gōngindustry

The chemical sense of 化 specifies the kind of 工, giving the idea of chemical industry.

Characters in this word

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

化 shows two person figures, one upright and one upside down, to give the idea of reversal or change.

Open 化 →

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
Industry & ManufacturingPhysics & Chemistry

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