用功

Mandarin · pinyin yòng gōng

Meanings

  1. diligent
  2. industrious (in one's studies)
  3. to study hard
  4. to make great effort
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Characters in this entry

用
yòng · use, employ, apply, operate; use
功
gōng · achievement, merit, good result
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

4–1 · yong4 gong1

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2character links1same-tone record
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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

jung6 gung1

Cantonese word readings for 用功. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

verb

  1. to study hard

adj

  1. diligent (in one's studies); hardworking; industrious; studious

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack