工作组 (gōng zuò zǔ) — work team; task force; working group

Definition

noun
work teamtask forceworking group
Measure word ·

Examples

  • 工作组
    Zhè ge gōng zuò zǔ fù zé diào chá shì gù yuán yīn.
    This working group is responsible for investigating the cause of the accident.
  • 工作组
    Gōng sī chéng lì le yí gè tè bié gōng zuò zǔ lái chǔ lǐ zhè ge wèn tí.
    The company set up a special task force to handle this problem.
  • 工作组
    gōng zuò zǔ Yǐ jīng wán chéng le dì yī jiē duàn de rèn wu.
    The working group has completed the first phase of tasks.

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.

工作work; labor
gōngwork; laborzuòwork; do
联合Coordinate
group

工作 means work or labor, and 组 means a group, so the word is a group formed for work.

Characters in this word

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 →

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
Written in full asrénperson
Sound part声符shēngfú
zhàzuò
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The left side 亻 comes from 人, meaning 'person', and the right side 乍 gives the sound.

Open 作 →

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 組; 组 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
silk
Sound part声符shēngfú
qiě
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 組 pairs 糸 (silk) with 且 as a sound part; the simplified 组 is a shorthand.

Open 组 →

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