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雇员 (gù yuán) — employee

Definition

雇员 means a formal 'employee' — someone hired under a written contract, especially in white-collar work. Pair with its counterpart 雇主 ('employer') to talk about the employment relationship; 员工 is broader staff, 职员 a desk-bound office worker.

noun
employee
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 雇员。
    Wǒ men gōng sī yǒu wǔ shí míng gù yuán.
    Our company has fifty employees.
  • 雇员。
    Gōng sī wèi měi wèi gù yuán gòu mǎi le bǎo xiǎn.
    The company bought insurance for each employee.
  • 雇员。
    Zhè wèi gù yuán yǐ jīng gōng zuò shí nián le.
    This employee has been working for ten years.

Origin

Derived word
构词法gòucífǎ
后缀hòuzhuìSuffix

A fixed syllable at the end that turns the word into a noun, a person, a place or the like.

雇gùhire
员yuánperson

雇 means hire, and 员 points to a person, so it names someone who is hired.

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
隹隹zhuī
Sound part声符shēngfú
戶
戶hù雇gù
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

雇 is made of 戶 and 隹: 戶 points to the sound, and 隹 points to the meaning.

Open 雇 →

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 員; 员 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
鼎鼎dǐngding
Sound part声符shēngfú
〇
〇líng員yuán
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

In the traditional form 員, 〇 supplies the sound and 鼎 supplies the meaning; the simplified 员 is a shortened form.

Open 员 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Professions & Jobs5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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