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雇佣 (gù yōng) — to employ, to hire

Definition

雇佣 (gù yōng) means 'to employ / to hire', often for labor or staff on a paid basis. 聘请/聘用 are more formal and typically used for professional or specialist roles.

verb
to employto hire

Examples

  • 雇佣。
    Wǒ men gōng sī jì huà gù yōng gèng duō de jì shù rén yuán.
    Our company plans to hire more technical staff.
  • 雇佣。
    Tā gù yōng le yí wèi lǜ shī lái chǔ lǐ zhè ge àn zi.
    He hired a lawyer to handle this case.
  • 雇佣。
    Duǎn qī gù yōng kě yǐ jiàng dī qǐ yè chéng běn.
    Short-term employment can reduce business costs.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

雇gùhire
佣yōnghire

雇 and 佣 both mean to hire, so it expresses employing someone.

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
隹隹zhuī
Sound part声符shēngfú
戶
戶hù雇gù
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

雇 is made of 戶 and 隹: 戶 points to the sound, and 隹 points to the meaning.

Open 雇 →

No reliable origin is recorded for this character.

Open 佣 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9HSK 2.0 Level 5Workplace & Office5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

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