Chinese symbol for “work”
工作
gōng zuò
to work; (of a machine) to operate; job; work
The closest CC-CEDICT match for work is 工作 (gōng zuò), defined as: to work; (of a machine) to operate; job; work; task; 个 (gè),份 (fèn),项 (xiàng).
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Other Chinese words for “work”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 作品 | zuò pǐn | work (of art); opus |
| 劳动 (勞動) | láo dòng | work; toil |
| 操作 | cāo zuò | to work; to operate |
| 工 | gōng | work; worker |
| 运转 (運轉) | yùn zhuǎn | to work; to operate |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 工作.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 工业 (工業) | gōng yè | industry |
| 工程 | gōng chéng | engineering; an engineering project |
| 工具 | gōng jù | tool; instrument |
| 工人 | gōng rén | worker; 个 (gè),名 (míng) |
| 员工 (員工) | yuán gōng | staff; personnel; employee |
| 作为 (作為) | zuò wéi | one's conduct; deed |
| 合作 | hé zuò | to cooperate; to collaborate; to work together |
| 作品 | zuò pǐn | work (of art); opus |
See also: Japanese symbol for “work”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.