Dong Chinese dictionary

gōng

public

Original meaning:

earthen jar

Pictograph of a earthen jar for holding liquid, now written as 瓮. The current meaning "public" is a phonetic loan.

Components

八 Iconic component

bā

eight

Depicts handles of a jar.

口 Iconic component

kǒu

mouth

Depicts the opening of a jar.

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 口 than it was in ancient scripts.

Evolution

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)

Bronze script

Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Regular script

Modern

Definitions

公

gōng

fair, equitable; public; duke; 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[wǔděngjuéwèi]; honorable (gentlemen); father-in-law; male (animal)

Most common words with 公

Freq.	Word	Meaning
	公司	company
	办公室	office
	公寓	apartment building
	公平	fair
	公园	park (for public recreation)

Component uses

Sound component in 14 characters (5 verified)

Sources

MTSU Chinese text computing

季旭昇《說文新證》p.86-87

Original meaning:

Freq.

Word

Meaning