空勤 (kōng qín) — air duty; flight duty (referring to work or service performed in the air, such as by flight crew or aerial personnel)

Definition

空勤 (kōngqín) refers to in-flight duty performed by crew — pilots, flight attendants, and other personnel who work aboard an aircraft, as opposed to ground-based staff.

noun
air dutyflight duty (referring to work or service performed in the air, such as by flight crew or aerial personnel)

Examples

  • 空勤，。
    Tā shì yì míng kōng qín rén yuán, jīng cháng yào zài fēi jī shàng gōng zuò.
    He is an air-duty personnel, often having to work on airplanes.
  • 空勤。
    kōng qín Rèn wu xū yào fēi xíng yuán hé chéng wù yuán pèi hé wán chéng.
    Air duty missions require coordination between pilots and cabin crew.
  • 空勤。
    Gōng sī ān pái le tā de kōng qín shí jiān biǎo.
    The company arranged his air duty schedule.

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.

空kōngair
勤qínduty

The parts for 空 air and 勤 duty give the idea of duty performed in the air.

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
穴穴xuécave, hole
Sound part声符shēngfú
工
工gōng空kōng
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

空 is built from 穴, a cave or hole, and 工, which gives the sound.

Open 空 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 勤 →

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