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公司 (gōng sī) — company; firm; corporation

Definition

A general word for 'company' of any size. 企业 is more formal/official (used in business and government contexts); 集团 is a large conglomerate of multiple companies.

noun
companyfirmcorporation
Measure word · 家

Examples

  • 公司。
    Zhè jiā gōng sī hěn dà.
    This company is very big.
  • 公司。
    Nà jiā gōng sī yǒu sān shí gè rén.
    That company has thirty people.
  • 公司。
    Wǒ zài zhè jiā gōng sī shàng bān.
    I work at this company.

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.

公gōngpublic
司sīoffice

公 means public and 司 denotes an office or department; together they name a business organization.

Characters in this word

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

One theory sees 公 as a picture of a wide-mouthed, round-bottomed jar.

Open 公 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The evidence is inconclusive: one suggestion sees 司 as a mouth giving orders beside a mark of authority, another reads that mark as a hand, and another sees it as a reversed older form.

Open 司 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 1500 Most Frequent Chinese WordsHSK 2.0 Level 21000 Most Frequent Chinese WordsBusiness & Commerce2000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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