公 (gōng): public; communal

Meanings

1 public; communal
2 fair; just
3 male (animal); metric (prefix)

Characters

公

gōng

public; male; fair

Examples

这是公共场所。

Zhè shì gōnggòng chǎngsuǒ.

This is a public place.

我在一家公司上班。

Wǒ zài yījiā gōngsī shàngbān.

I work at a company.

公园里很安静。

Gōngyuán lǐ hěn ānjìng.

The park is very quiet.

Tips

usage

公 is extremely common: 公司 (company), 公园 (park), 公共 (public), 公里 (kilometer), 公斤 (kilogram), 公平 (fair), 公主 (princess), 公交车 (bus). It contrasts with 私 (private).

Components

radical

八 bā

eight; to divide (radical)

Top radical 八 — pictographically two strokes spreading apart, the original meaning being 'to divide, split, distribute.' In 公 it shows the action of breaking something apart and redistributing it. The 'eight' reading is a borrowed numeral; the 'split' sense is what's at work here.

semantic

厶 sī

private, selfish (semantic)

Bottom 厶 — the original character for 私 (private, selfish), depicting an enclosed personal space. The Han philosopher Han Fei explicitly explained 公 as 'the opposite of 厶': dividing up what is private gives 'public, communal, fair.' A clean compound: split (八) the private (厶) = public.