清洁工 (qīng jié gōng) — sanitation worker, street cleaner, custodian | TongTong Chinese Dictionary

Definition

noun

sanitation workerstreet cleanercustodian

Measure word · 个

Examples

清洁工。
Nà wèi qīng jié gōng měi tiān zǎo shàng wǔ diǎn jiù kāi shǐ gōng zuò.
That sanitation worker starts working at five every morning.
清洁工，。
Chéng shì lǐ de qīng jié gōng hěn xīn kǔ, wǒ men yào zūn zhòng tā men.
Sanitation workers in the city work hard; we should respect them.
清洁工。
qīng jié gōng Bǎ jiē dào dǎ sǎo dé fēi cháng gān jìng.
The custodian swept the street very clean.

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.

清洁clean

清qīngclean洁jiéclean

联合Coordinate

清洁 (clean) and 工 (worker) together name a person who cleans.

Characters in this word

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

氵青清

Meaning part形符xíngfú

氵Written in full as水shuǐwater

Sound part声符shēngfú

青

青qīng清qīng

Same sound today

清 has 氵 (water) on the left and 青 on the right to show its sound.

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 潔; 洁 is its simplified writing.

氵絜潔

Meaning part形符xíngfú

氵Written in full as水shuǐwater

Sound part声符shēngfú

絜

絜jié潔jié

Same sound today

The traditional form 潔 pairs 氵, a water part, with 絜, which gives the sound; the simplified 洁 is a later abbreviation.

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.

Appears in

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