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工夫 (gōng fu) — time; period of time; spare time; effort; labor; skill

Definition

工夫 can mean 'spare time' (没有工夫 = no free time) or 'effort/skill put into something'. Distinct from 空, which is just 'free' or 'empty', and from 功夫, which adds the martial-arts sense.

noun
timeperiod of timespare timeeffortlaborskill
Easily confused

Examples

  • 工夫。
    Zhè duàn shí jiān wǒ huā le hěn dà gōng fu cái wán chéng.
    I spent a lot of time and effort on this period to finish it.
  • ，工夫。
    Tā měi tiān dōu hěn máng, méi yǒu gōng fu xiū xi.
    He is very busy every day and has no spare time to rest.
  • 工夫。
    Zuò zhè ge cài xū yào hěn duō gōng fu.
    Making this dish requires a lot of time and effort.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

工gōngwork
夫fūmanpower

工 (work) and 夫 (manpower) combine to mean the effort or time required.

Characters in this word

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 →

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

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

夫 originally drew a man. It was borrowed purely for its sound to write a pronoun, so the picture and the pronoun meaning are unrelated.

Open 夫 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 6HSK 2.0 Level 6Abstract ConceptsTime (Abstract)

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