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工艺 (gōng yì) — craft; arts and crafts; industrial technology; manufacturing process

Definition

工艺 refers to craft techniques or manufacturing processes, often as a field or industry. 技艺 stresses the skill itself; 手艺 is the everyday word for a person's handcraft trade.

noun
craftarts and craftsindustrial technologymanufacturing process
Easily confused

Examples

  • 工艺。
    Zhè zhǒng chuán tǒng gōng yì yǐ jīng liú chuán le jǐ bǎi nián.
    This kind of traditional craft has been handed down for hundreds of years.
  • 工艺。
    Xiàn dài gōng yì dà dà tí gāo le shēng chǎn xiào lǜ.
    Modern industrial technology has greatly improved production efficiency.
  • 工艺。
    Tā duì zhōng guó gōng yì hěn gǎn xìng qù.
    He is very interested in Chinese arts and crafts.

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
艺yìart

“工” (work) and “艺” (art) form the skill of making things by hand.

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
艹Written in full as艸cǎo
Sound part声符shēngfú
乙
乙yǐ艺yì
Same sound today

In 艺, the top 艹 points to plants, and the lower 乙 gives the sound.

Open 艺 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 5Crafts & HandiworkIndustry & Manufacturing

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