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工科 (gōng kē) — engineering (as an academic field of study)

Definition

工科 refers to engineering as an academic discipline or major at university (paired with 理科 'the sciences' vs. 文科 'the humanities'). 工程 is the field's practical work or a specific project, not the academic major.

noun
engineering (as an academic field of study)

Examples

  • 工科。
    Wǒ dì di zài dà xué dú gōng kē.
    My younger brother is studying engineering at university.
  • 工科？
    gōng kē Hé lǐ kē yǒu shén me bù tóng?
    What's the difference between engineering and natural sciences?
  • 工科。
    Hěn duō gōng kē bì yè shēng qù le dà gōng sī.
    Many engineering graduates go to big companies.

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.

工gōngengineering
科kēsubject

The 工 meaning is engineering or technical work, and 科 means a field of study, so 工科 names engineering as an academic subject.

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 →

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
斗斗dòumeasuring tool
Sound part声符shēngfú
禾
禾hé科kē
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

科 pairs 禾, which gives the hé sound, with 斗, a measuring tool.

Open 科 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9

Browse more HSK 7-9 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.