字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

work, (kokuji)

On’yomi ドウ
Kun’yomi はたら.く

Origin

This character was created in Japan by combining the person radical 亻 on the left with 動 (meaning "move") on the right. The 動 component serves as a sound hint, telling you roughly how to pronounce the character — both share the reading ドウ. The character's meaning of "work" comes from the idea of a person in motion or action, since working involves physical or mental activity. This is a Japanese invention, not a character borrowed from Chinese, which is why it's marked as kokuji.

働 13 strokes

Components

  • 亻 radical left
  • 動 sound hint right

A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.

Common words

  • 働き はたらき work; labor
  • 働く はたらく to work; to labor
  • 稼働 かどう operation (of a machine); running
  • 労働 ろうどう labor; labour
  • 共働き ともばたらき (husband and wife) both working; dual income
  • 働き口 はたらきぐち position; job
  • 働き者 はたらきもの hard worker; hardworking person
  • 労働者 ろうどうしゃ worker

Related kanji

Same sound component 動
Same radical

Reference

Strokes
13
Kangxi radical
9
Formation type
Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
Grade
Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#417 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 3
Unicode
U+050CD