工时 (gōng shí) — man-hours, working hours

Definition

工时 (gōngshí) refers to labor time measured in hours or person-hours — both the time workers spend on a job and the unit used in cost estimation. Examples like 加班工时 show it pairs naturally with 加班 to mean overtime working time.

noun
man-hoursworking hours
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 工时？
    Zhè ge xiàng mù xū yào duō shǎo gōng shí?
    How many man-hours does this project need?
  • 工时。
    Wǒ men zài yì zhōu nèi wán chéng le liǎng bǎi gè gōng shí.
    We completed 200 man-hours within one week.
  • 工时。
    Jiā bān gōng shí àn shuāng bèi gōng zī jì suàn.
    Overtime working hours are calculated at double pay.

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gōngwork
时shíhour

工 means work and 时 means hour; the word names working hours or a man-hour.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 時; 时 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
日日rìsun; day
Sound part声符shēngfú
之
之zhī時shí
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 時 pairs 日 (sun/day) with 之 as the part that gives the sound; the simplified 时 is not the form described.

Open 时 →

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