Chinese word

通勤

Pronunciation

Pinyintōng qín

Meaning

  • verbcommute

Example

我周末也会通勤去公司加班。wǒ zhōu mò yě huì tōng qín qù gōng sī jiā bān

I also commute to the office to work overtime on weekends.

Illustration for 通勤 (commute)

More examples

我每天早上坐地铁通勤上班。wǒ měi tiān zǎo shàng zuò dì tiě tōng qín shàng bān

I commute to work by subway every morning.

Core concept

Repeated travel along a home-to-work or home-to-school route.

Common phrases

  • 坐地铁通勤zuò dì tiě tōng qín

    commute by subway

  • 开车通勤kāi chē tōng qín

    commute by car

  • 每天通勤měi tiān tōng qín

    commute every day

Similar words

上班shàng bān: Go to work and begin the workday.
出勤chū qín: Attend the workplace for one's assigned duties.
上下班shàng xià bān: Go from home to work and back at the start and end of work.

Definition in Chinese

指为上班或上学在住处与工作（学校）地点之间定期来回移动的动作或状态。zhǐ wèi shàng bān huò shàng xué zài zhù chù yǔ gōng zuò xué xiào dì diǎn zhī jiān dìng qī lái huí yí dòng de dòng zuò huò zhuàng tài

Word origin

The compound joins 通 (tōng, "pass through") with 勤 (qín, "work or duty") to name repeated route travel associated with work.

Usage tips

  • Chinese commonly places the transport method before the term, giving conversational phrases a different word order from English.

Other meanings

  • commutingnoun

Opposites

  • 远程办公yuǎn chéng bàn gōngwork remotelyverb
  • 在家工作zài jiā gōng zuòwork from homeverb

Related words

  • 通勤者tōng qín zhěcommuternoun
  • 通勤时间tōng qín shí jiāncommute timenoun
  • 通勤路线tōng qín lù xiàncommuting routenoun

Word lists with this word