工作队 (gōng zuò duì) — work team, task force (a group assigned to a specific project or mission)

Definition

A 工作队 is a temporary team sent by a government or organization to carry out a specific task, often in a rural or local setting.

noun
work teamtask force (a group assigned to a specific project or mission)
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 工作队。
    Zhè ge gōng zuò duì fù zé diào chá dāng dì de jīng jì qíng kuàng.
    This work team is responsible for investigating the local economic situation.
  • 工作队。
    Zhèng fǔ pài le yí gè gōng zuò duì qù nóng cūn bāng zhù nóng mín.
    The government sent a work team to the countryside to help farmers.
  • 工作队。
    gōng zuò duì De chéng yuán dōu jīng guò zhuān yè péi xùn.
    All members of the work team have received professional training.

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
工gōngwork作zuòdo
联合Side by side
队duìteam

工作 gives the sense of tasks or labor, and 队 gives the sense of a group, forming a team assigned to a mission.

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
亻Written in full as人rénperson
Sound part声符shēngfú
乍
乍zhà作zuò
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 隊; 队 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
阜阜fù
Sound part声符shēngfú
㒸
㒸㒸隊duì
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 隊 has 阜 as the meaning part and 㒸 as the sound part.

Open 队 →

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