Chinese word

打工

Pronunciation

Pinyindǎ gōng

Meaning

  • verbwork part-time

Example

她在学校附近的餐馆打工。tā zài xué xiào fù jìn de cān guǎn dǎ gōng

She works part-time at a restaurant near the school.

Illustration for 打工 (work part-time)

More examples

他周末在咖啡店打工，学会了服务技巧。tā zhōu mò zài kā fēi diàn dǎ gōng xué huì le fú wù jì qiǎo

He worked part-time at a cafe on weekends and learned service skills.

Core concept

Doing paid labor in a small, temporary, or informal role.

Common phrases

  • 在饭店打工zài fàn diàn dǎ gōng

    work part-time at a restaurant

  • 周末打工zhōu mò dǎ gōng

    work part-time on weekends

Similar words

工作gōng zuò: Working regularly in an established job over a period of time.
兼职jiān zhí: Working at an extra job alongside a main job or other regular work.
打零工dǎ líng gōng: Doing a one-off, short-term job as temporary paid work.
做工zuò gōng: Doing physical work with the hands or body.

Definition in Chinese

以劳动换取报酬的短期或兼职工作，常指非正式或计时性质的岗位。yǐ láo dòng huàn qǔ bào chóu de duǎn qī huò jiān zhí gōng zuò cháng zhǐ fēi zhèng shì huò jì shí xìng zhì dì gǎng wèi

Word origin

打工 (dǎgōng, "work for wages") is formed from 打 (dǎ, "do") plus 工 (gōng, "labor"), linking an action with the idea of paid work.

Usage tips

  • This is an everyday word, so official writing may choose a more formal expression for a job instead.

Other meanings

  • workverb

Opposites

Word lists with this word