躬

gōng

verb #14,872

Meanings

1 to bow
2 body (literary)
3 oneself; personally (literary)

Characters

躬

gōng

to bow; body; personally

Examples

HSK 5

事必躬亲才能做好。

Shì bì gōng qīn cáinéng zuòhǎo.

Only by attending to things personally can they be done well.

HSK 7-9

他向老师鞠躬致敬。

Tā xiàng lǎoshī jūgōng zhìjìng.

He bowed to the teacher in respect.

Tips

usage

躬 is literary and rarely stands alone in modern Chinese. It appears in set compounds: 鞠躬 (jūgōng, to bow), 躬亲 (gōngqīn, to attend to personally), 躬身 (gōngshēn, to bend one's body).

Components

radical

身 shēn

body

Left-side body radical - pictograph of a person in profile, the rounded belly originally emphasising a pregnant body (curve still visible). The indexing radical: 躬 is to bow deeply, bend the body in respect (鞠躬). Also used metaphorically for 'in person, oneself' (躬亲). Same body-family: 躯 trunk, 躺 to lie down.

phonetic

弓 gōng

bow (weapon)

Right side 弓 supplies the sound exactly: gōng → gōng, identical pinyin and tone. 弓 itself is a pictograph of an unstrung bow - the curve of the wooden weapon. The picture reinforces meaning: bowing the body curves it like a strung bow. Same phonetic family: 穹 vault of sky, 宫 palace. Bow-shape doubles as sound and mnemonic.

Stroke Order

躬 gōng

躬