复工 (fù gōng) — to resume work, to return to work (after a strike, layoff, holiday, or shutdown)

Definition

复工 means a workplace or workforce returning to operations after a stoppage — typically used for factories, offices, or construction resuming after a holiday, layoff, pandemic, or shutdown, not an individual's daily commute.

verb
to resume workto return to work (after a strike, layoff, holiday, or shutdown)

Examples

  • 复工。
    Gōng chǎng xià zhōu yī fù gōng.
    The factory will resume work next Monday.
  • 。
    Yuán gōng men yǐ jīng fù le sān tiān gōng.
    The employees have been back at work for three days.
  • ，复工。
    Yì qíng jié shù hòu, hěn duō gōng sī lù xù fù gōng.
    After the pandemic ended, many companies gradually resumed operations.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

复fùreturn
工gōngwork

复 conveys returning, and 工 names work; together they describe coming back to work.

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 復; 复 is its simplified writing.

The simplified 复 stands for more than one traditional character. In most words (复习, 恢复) it is 復; in others (复印, 复杂) (答复, 反复) it is 複 or 覆.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
彳彳chìwalk
Sound part声符shēngfú
复
复fù復fù
Same sound today

The traditional form 復 combines 彳, a walking part, with 复, a sound part, to show walking back and forth.

Open 复 →

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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