Vocabulary · 词汇 cíhuì

工作

gōngzuò

The everyday word for work: the activity you do and the job you hold, how to say you are looking for one or have too much of it, and how it differs from going to work, an occupation, and a career.

~4 min read

字源 zìyuán Etymology & Structure

字源洞见 zìyuán dòngjiàn · Etymological Insight

工 gōng is one of the oldest pictographs in the script: a carpenter's set-square or plumb-line, the tool of the craftsman. From "tool" it grew to mean "labor, craft, work" and "a worker." 作 zuò means "to make, to do, to produce," built from 亻 (person) beside 乍 (suddenly, to begin). Together 工作 reads as "to do labor," to make and produce, which became the modern word for work.

The single 工 still carries the older flavor in many compounds: 工人 gōngrén (a worker), 工厂 gōngchǎng (a factory), 工具 gōngjù (a tool), 手工 shǒugōng (handcraft). 作 likewise stands behind 作业 zuòyè (homework, an assignment) and 作品 zuòpǐn (a created work). The disyllabic 工作 is the ordinary spoken and written word for work in modern Mandarin.

工作 gōngzuò The Core Word

工作 gōngzuò to work; work, a job

V/N 动名 dòngmíng

As a verb, to work or to be employed: 我在一家公司工作 ("I work at a company"). As a noun, the work you do or the job you hold: 工作很忙 ("work is busy"), 一份好工作 ("a good job"). One word covers both senses, and the choice of verb or noun is clear from the sentence, not from the form of the word.

你做什么工作？

Nǐ zuò shénme gōngzuò?

What work do you do?

他工作得很认真。

Tā gōngzuò de hěn rènzhēn.

He works very conscientiously.

我最近工作压力很大。

Wǒ zuìjìn gōngzuò yālì hěn dà.

I've been under a lot of work pressure lately.

用法 yòngfǎ Patterns — Finding, Having, Counting

工作 in use · the core patterns 在 + Place + 工作 , 我在上海工作 · I work in Shanghai
找工作 , to look for a job (job-hunting)
一份工作 , one job (measure word 份 fèn)
做 + 工作 , 做这个工作 · to do this work
工作 + 得 + Complement , 工作得很努力 · works very hard

找工作 zhǎo gōngzuò to look for a job; to job-hunt

The set phrase for job-hunting. 找 (to look for) plus 工作. Common in life and conversation, especially among graduates and people changing roles: 毕业以后我要找工作 ("after I graduate I'll look for a job"). The result of a successful search is 找到工作 ("found a job"), with 到 marking the achieved result.

他还在找工作。

Tā hái zài zhǎo gōngzuò.

He's still looking for a job.

一份工作 yí fèn gōngzuò a job (one position)

When 工作 means a discrete job or position, it is counted with the measure word 份 fèn, the same word used for a portion or a document. 一份工作 ("one job"), 两份工作 ("two jobs," as in working two jobs). When 工作 means work as an activity or workload, it takes no measure word: 工作很多 ("there's a lot of work").

这是一份很稳定的工作。

Zhè shì yí fèn hěn wěndìng de gōngzuò.

This is a very stable job.

辨析 biànxī Work, Going to Work, Occupation, Career

辨析 biànxī · Distinguishing the Words

Four words cluster around the idea of work, and they are not interchangeable. 工作 gōngzuò is work or a job in the ordinary sense, both the doing and the position. 上班 shàngbān is narrower: the act of going to work, clocking in for a shift, with its mirror 下班 ("getting off work"). A freelancer 工作 every day but rarely 上班; an office worker does both.

职业 zhíyè is your "occupation" or "profession," the labeled category of what you do, the word you write on a form: 你的职业是什么？("what is your occupation?"). 事业 shìyè is the largest of the four, a "career" or "undertaking" in the aspirational sense, a life's work or a cause: 事业心 ("ambition, drive") and 事业有成 ("accomplished in one's career"). Move from concrete to grand: 上班 (the daily commute to work) → 工作 (the job) → 职业 (the profession) → 事业 (the life's calling).

成语 chéngyǔ Set Phrases

兢兢业业 jīng jīng yè yè diligent and careful in one's work A phrase of high praise for someone who does their work with constant care and seriousness, never cutting corners. 兢兢 conveys cautious diligence; 业业 the steady attention to one's 业 (work, duties). Common in performance reviews and tributes, the model of the conscientious worker.

任劳任怨 rèn láo rèn yuàn to work hard without complaint Literally "to take on the toil and take on the grumbling," to shoulder hard work and even unfair blame without complaint. A warm compliment for a dependable, uncomplaining worker, and a quietly admired virtue in the Chinese workplace.

废寝忘食 fèi qǐn wàng shí to forget sleep and meals (in one's work) Literally "to neglect sleep and forget to eat," so absorbed in work or study that one loses track of basic needs. Used to praise total dedication, though modern usage sometimes carries a gentle warning about overwork. The image of the scholar bent over the desk through the night.