扛 (káng): to carry on one's shoulder

Meanings

1 to carry on one's shoulder
2 to bear; to endure

Characters

扛

kang

to carry on the shoulder; to bear

Examples

他扛着一袋大米回家。

Tā káng zhe yí dài dàmǐ huíjiā.

He carried a bag of rice home on his shoulder.

这个责任我来扛。

Zhège zérèn wǒlái káng.

I'll shoulder this responsibility.

他一个人扛不住这么大的压力。

Tā yíge rén káng búzhù zhème dà de yālì.

He can't bear such enormous pressure by himself.

Tips

usage

扛 specifically means carrying on the shoulder (unlike 背 on the back or 提 by hand). Figuratively, 扛住 means to withstand pressure, and 扛不住 means to buckle under it. Very colloquial and expressive.

Components

radical

扌 shǒu

hand

Hand radical on the left, the indexing component and a contracted form of 手. It places 扛 in the hand-action family — carrying, lifting, hauling — alongside 抬 lift, 提 hold up, 拿 take, 担 shoulder. The hand is doing real physical work in 扛.

phonetic

工 gōng

work; craft

Right side 工 gōng supplies the sound with a regular shift gōng → káng (the gang-rhyme group). It also lends a faint flavour of labour: 工 is the carpenter's square, the symbol of hands-on work, and 扛 is hands-on labour at its most physical — shouldering a heavy load.