Meaning of 公
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- public
- collectively owned
- common
- international (e.g. high seas, metric system, calendar)
- make public
- fair
- just
- Duke, highest of five orders of nobility 五等爵位[wu3 deng3 jue2 wei4]
How to use 公
公 rarely stands alone in modern speech. It mostly appears in compound words about public or shared things, like 公园 (gōngyuán, park) and 公路 (gōnglù, highway), or international units like 公里 (gōnglǐ, kilometer). Example: 我在公司上班。(Wǒ zài gōngsī shàngbān.) I work at a company.
The top of 公 (gōng) is 八, two strokes splitting apart, and the bottom is 厶, a shape often linked to "private." Picture private things being split open and shared with everyone, and you get "public."
Common mistake: Learners often mix up 公 with 分 (fēn). Both have 八 on top, but 分 has 刀 underneath while 公 has 厶. Also keep the first tone in 公; it is not gǒng or gòng.
公 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
公 gōng · public · 4 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
Related words
Words that share a character with 公.
| 公司 | gōngsī | company; firm; corporation |
| 办公室 | bàngōngshì | office; business premises |
| 公平 | gōngpíng | fair; impartial |
| 公园 | gōngyuán | park (for public recreation) |
| 公里 | gōnglǐ | kilometer |
| 公路 | gōnglù | highway; road |
| 公斤 | gōngjīn | kilogram (kg) |
| 公交车 | gōngjiāochē | public transport vehicle; town bus |
| 公共汽车 | gōnggòng qìchē | bus |
| 公开 | gōngkāi | open; overt; public; to make public; to release |
| 公民 | gōngmín | citizen |
| 公共 | gōnggòng | public; common; communal |
Questions about 公
What does 公 mean?
公 (gōng) means "public; collectively owned" and is used as a adjective.
How do you write 公?
公 is made of 1 character: 公 (4 strokes). That is 4 strokes in total.
Is 公 an HSK word?
Yes. 公 is on the HSK 6 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
Why does 公 also mean male for animals?
In everyday speech 公 marks male animals, as in 公鸡 (gōngjī, rooster), and 母 (mǔ) marks females. This sense is not in the main entry above, but you will hear it often.
What does 老公 mean?
老公 (lǎogōng) is a common casual word for "husband." The matching word for "wife" is 老婆 (lǎopo).