打零工

dǎlínggōng

verb #31,332

Meanings

1 to do odd jobs
2 to work as a casual laborer
3 to take temporary/gig work

Characters

to do; to work at

scattered; odd; fragmentary

Examples

他大学期间在外面打零工赚钱。

Tā dàxué qījiān zài wàimiàn dǎ línggōng zhuànqián.

He worked odd jobs to earn money during college.

失业后他只能打零工维持生活。

Shīyè hòu tā zhǐnéng dǎ línggōng wéichí shēnghuó.

After losing his job, he could only do odd jobs to get by.

Tips

usage

打零工 is the standard term for casual, day-by-day labor — gig work, side jobs, no fixed contract. Compare 打工 (dǎgōng), the broader term for taking any wage-labor job (including a full-time one); 零 ("scattered, fragmentary") narrows it to piecemeal/temporary work.

grammar

Treated as a verb-object phrase, so 了/过 etc. go between: 打了零工 ("did some odd jobs"), 打过零工 ("have done odd jobs before").

Stroke Order

打 dǎ

零 líng

工 gōng