工蜂 (gōng fēng) — worker bee | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

A worker bee — the sterile female bee that does all the foraging, nursing, and hive work, as opposed to the 蜂后 (queen) or 雄蜂 (drone).

noun

worker bee

Measure word · 只

Examples

工蜂。
gōng fēng Fù zé cǎi mì hé zhào gù yòu fēng.
Worker bees are responsible for collecting nectar and caring for young bees.
工蜂。
Yì qún gōng fēng zhèng zài fēng cháo lǐ máng lù.
A group of worker bees are busy in the hive.
工蜂。
gōng fēng De shù liàng jué dìng fēng qún de jiàn kāng.
The number of worker bees determines the health of the colony.

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 means worker and 蜂 means bee, so together they name a bee that works in the hive.

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.

虫夆蜂

Meaning part形符xíngfú

虫虫chónginsect

Sound part声符shēngfú

夆

夆páng蜂fēng

Same sound today

蜂 puts 虫, showing an insect, beside 夆, which gives its sound.

Appears in

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