工程 (gōng chéng) — engineering (as a field); project; undertaking | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

工程 refers to a concrete engineering or construction project, or the engineering field itself. It is narrower than 事业 ('cause, career'), which is abstract and often lifelong.

noun

engineering (as a field)projectundertaking

Measure word · 个, 项

Examples

工程。
Tā xué de zhuān yè shì tǔ mù gōng chéng.
His major is civil engineering.
工程，。
Zhè xiàng gōng chéng fēi cháng zhòng yào, bù néng chū cuò.
This project is very important; there can be no mistakes.
工程。
Gōng sī zhèng zài zuò yí gè dà gōng chéng.
The company is working on a big project.

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.

程chéngprocess

工 “work” and 程 “process” combine to mean a planned work undertaking.

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.

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

禾呈程

Meaning part形符xíngfú

禾禾hégrain

Sound part声符shēngfú

呈

呈chéng程chéng

Same sound today

程 is made from 禾 (grain) and 呈 (pronounced chéng); the evidence gives measurements.

Appears in

HSK 3.0 Level 5 Technology & Engineering 5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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