工资表 (gōng zī biǎo) — payroll; pay sheet

Definition

noun
payrollpay sheet
Measure word · 张

Examples

  • 工资表。
    Cái wù bù zhèng zài zhǔn bèi xià ge yuè de gōng zī biǎo.
    The finance department is preparing next month's payroll.
  • 工资表。
    Hé duì gōng zī biǎo shí fā xiàn le yí chù cuò wù.
    An error was found while checking the pay sheet.
  • 工资表。
    Zhè fèn gōng zī biǎo jì lù le suǒ yǒu yuán gōng de jiā bān fèi.
    This pay sheet records the overtime pay of all employees.

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.

工资pay
工gōngwork资zīpay
偏正Modifier + head
表biǎosheet

工资 names pay and 表 names a sheet, so it is a sheet listing pay.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 資; 资 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
貝貝bèishell-money
Sound part声符shēngfú
次
次cì資zī
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 資 puts 次 above 貝, a shell-money sign, to write property or resource; 次 supplies the sound. The simplified 资 is a shorthand, so do not treat its parts as historical.

Open 资 →

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

The shape 表 pairs 衣 (garment) with 毛 (hair or feather), originally an outer garment.

Open 表 →

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