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矿工 (kuàng gōng) — miner

Definition

noun
miner
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 矿工。
    Xǔ duō kuàng gōng měi tiān zài dì xià gōng zuò.
    Many miners work underground every day.
  • 矿工。
    kuàng gōng De gōng zī jīn nián tí gāo le.
    The miners' wages have increased this year.
  • 矿工，。
    Tā yǐ qián shì kuàng gōng, dàn xiàn zài yǐ jīng tuì xiū le.
    He used to be a miner, but he has retired now.

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.

矿kuàngmine
工gōngworker

“矿” means mine and “工” means worker, together denoting a worker in a mine.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 礦; 矿 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
石石shístone
Sound part声符shēngfú
廣
廣guǎng礦kuàng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 礦 shows 石, meaning stone, beside 廣, which gives the sound. The simplified 矿 is a later shorthand, so its parts are not the original parts.

Open 矿 →

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 →
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