收工 (shōu gōng) — to finish work for the day, to call it a day

Definition

Idiomatic phrase meaning to finish work for the day or call it a job. Colloquial and common in workplace and casual speech.

verb

to finish work for the dayto call it a day

。
Jīn tiān tí qián shōu le gōng.
We finished work early today.
收工。
Wǒ men wǔ diǎn zhōng jiù shōu gōng le.
We finished work at five o'clock.
，收工！
Wài miàn xià yǔ le, dà jiā gǎn kuài shōu gōng ba!
It's raining outside, everyone finish up quickly!

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

收 means to take in or finish, and 工 is work; together they mean to end the work of the day.

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.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

攴攴pū

Sound part声符shēngfú

丩

丩jiū收shōu

The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

收 uses 攴 to show an action and 丩 as a sound clue; the old meaning was 'to arrest.'

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.

Appears in