gōng​shì

fortification

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

shì, shi matter

The characters (history), (government official), 使 (cause; use; instruct), and (matter; work; affair) are all etymologically related and all derive from the same ancient character, depicting a hand () holding a container for writing utensils. and were originally written the same, but later an extra mark was added to distinguish them.

Components

characterless component

Mark added to distinguish from .

Iconic component
characterless component

Depicts a container for writing utensils.

Iconic component
yòu hand

Depicts a hand.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Western Zhou ~900 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Spring and Autumn ~500 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Mid Warring States ~300 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 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 Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagartdzriH[m-s-]rəʔ-s serve; service, affair

說文解字

《說文》:“事,職也。从史,之省聲。,古文事。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.214
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica