HSK 5 · Work

打工 dǎgōng “to work a casual or part-time job” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 打工 means

  1. to work a casual or part-time job
  2. to work a temporary or casual job
  3. (of students) to have a job outside of class time, or during holiday

How to say 打工

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale打dǎ3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale工gōng1st tone, high and level

打工 in a sentence

  1. 周末我在超市打工。

    Zhōumò wǒ zài chāoshì dǎgōng.

    I work part-time at the supermarket on weekends.

    Sentence #2055680 from Tatoeba

  2. 淑华说她明年想出国打工，结果被家人劝退。

    Shūhuá shuō tā míngnián xiǎng chūguó dǎgōng, jiéguǒ bèi jiārén quàntuì.

    Shuhua said she wanted to go and work overseas next year, but her family talked her out of it.

    Sentence #13523783 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 打工 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 打 (dǎ) with each of its parts in a different colour
打dǎto hit; to strike
  • 扌hand form of 手 · shǒuMeaning part
  • 丁part of the characterSound part

Memory aidA hand 扌 striking a nail 丁: to hit. It is now used for many actions, such as 打电话 (dǎ diànhuà) “to phone”.

The character 工 (gōng) with each of its parts in a different colour
工gōngwork
  • 一one · yī
  • 丄above · shàng

Memory aidDrawn from a builder’s tool: work.

How to write 打工

打 5 strokes · 工 3 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

打工 (dǎgōng) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 打工 (dǎgōng). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 打工

Words with 打

打电话dǎ diànhuà · to make a phone call打dǎ · to hit打车dǎchē · to take a taxi (in town)打开dǎkāi · to open打篮球dǎlánqiú · to play basketball打扫dǎsǎo · to clean打算dǎsuàn · to plan打扮dǎban · to decorate打扰dǎrǎo · to disturb打印dǎyìn · to print (with a printer)

Words with 工

工作gōngzuò · to work工作日gōngzuòrì · working day工资gōngzī · wages工厂gōngchǎng · factory工人gōngrén · worker工业gōngyè · industry员工yuángōng · employee工具gōngjù · tool手工shǒugōng · handmade工程师gōngchéngshī · engineer

More words: Work & Career

编辑biānjí · to edit部门bùmén · department辞职cízhí · to resign从事cóngshì · to engage in待遇dàiyù · treatment贷款dàikuǎn · a loan单位dānwèi · unit (of measurement)担任dānrèn · to hold (a post)

FAQs

打工 (dǎgōng) means “to work a casual or part-time job” or “to work a temporary or casual job”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it dǎgōng: dǎ with a 3rd tone, then gōng with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 打工 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type dagong with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 打工 from the suggestions. Typing dagong into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
打工 is an HSK 5 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.