gōng​kuàng

operating condition

gōng work

Depicts a tool with a blade.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Early Western Zhou ~1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (11 of 23 verified)

Meaning (3 of 7 verified)

Iconic (4)

Unknown (0 of 3 verified)

Simplified (1)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkuwngkˤoŋ officer
kuwngkˤoŋ work

說文解字

《說文》:“工,巧飾也。象人有規榘也。與巫同意。,古文工从彡。”

Sources

Character origin
季旭昇《說文新證》p.381-382漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

kuàng situation Simplified

Original meaning: cold water

Simplified form of . Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
bīng ice

is a component form of .

Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "cold water", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.
Sound component
xiōng, xiong elder brother
Change in sound

Historical Pronunciations

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode

kuàng situation Traditional

Original meaning: cold water

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components

Meaning component
shui, shuǐ water

is a component form of .

Change in meaning
hints at the original meaning of , "cold water", which is no longer the most common meaning of in modern Mandarin.
Sound component
xiōng, xiong elder brother
Change in sound

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Three Kingdoms (Cao Wei) 222-280 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartxjwangH[m̥]aŋ-s compare with, be equal to
xjwangH[m̥]aŋ-s how much the more

說文解字

《說文》:“況,寒水也。从水,兄聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica