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下功夫 (xià gōng fu) — to put in effort; to devote time and energy (to something)

Definition

Means 'put in effort / devote time and energy' to mastering something. Closer to focused, sustained practice than 出力, which is more general physical or effort exertion.

phrase
to put in effortto devote time and energy (to something)

Examples

  • 下功夫。
    Tā wèi le xué shū fǎ xū yào cháng qī xià gōng fu.
    Learning calligraphy requires long-term effort.
  • 。
    Tā zài gāng qín shàng xià le hěn duō gōng fu.
    She put a lot of effort into learning piano.
  • ？
    Nǐ zài zhè xiàng gōng zuò shàng xià gōng fu le ma?
    Have you put effort into this task?

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

下xiàput in
功夫effort
功gōngeffort夫fūnoun suffix
后缀Suffix

下 expresses putting in, and 功夫 denotes effort, giving the sense of devoting energy.

Characters in this word

An abstract idea shown by a mark or a diagram rather than by a picture of an object.

下 is drawn as a short horizontal line below a long curved line.

Open 下 →

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
力力lìstrength
Sound part声符shēngfú
工
工gōng功gōng
Same sound today

功 puts 力 (strength) beside 工, which gives the sound gōng and means labour or work.

Open 功 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

假借jiǎjièLater borrowed for its sound alone — the picture has nothing to do with today’s meaning.

夫 originally drew a man. It was borrowed purely for its sound to write a pronoun, so the picture and the pronoun meaning are unrelated.

Open 夫 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 6Abstract ConceptsSuccess & Failure

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