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苦工 (kǔ gōng) — hard manual work, labor (often physical and demanding); a laborer, a person who does heavy physical work

Definition

Literally 'bitter work': 苦工 is hard physical labor, or the laborer who does it — a written, somewhat literary term. It focuses on the grueling nature of the work itself, unlike generic 工作 or 工人.

noun
hard manual worklabor (often physical and demanding)a laborer, a person who does heavy physical work

Examples

  • 苦工，。
    Tā měi tiān zài gōng dì shàng zuò kǔ gōng, fēi cháng xīn kǔ.
    He does hard labor on the construction site every day, it's very exhausting.
  • 苦工。
    Guò qù xǔ duō kǔ gōng méi yǒu jī běn quán lì.
    In the past, many laborers had no basic rights.
  • 苦工，。
    Tā bù xiǎng yí bèi zi dāng kǔ gōng, suǒ yǐ nǔ lì dú shū.
    He doesn't want to be a laborer his whole life, so he studies hard.

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.

苦kǔhard
工gōngwork

The parts give 苦 hard and 工 work, together meaning hard manual labor or a laborer.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
艸艸cǎograss
Sound part声符shēngfú
古
古gǔ苦kǔ
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The top 艸 shows grass or plants, matching the sense of bitter plants. The bottom 古 gives the sound.

Open 苦 →

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 →
Appears in
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