How to say “civil servant” in Chinese

公务员

gōngwùyuán

civil servant

noun · HSK 5 · topic “Work”

“Civil servant” in Chinese is 公务员, gōng wù yuán: the meaning, a recording of how it sounds, the characters stroke by stroke.

How to pronounce it

公务员 is read gōng wù yuán: 3 syllables. The tone is part of the word: with another melody you get another word, or just a jumble of sounds.

gōng — 1st tonehigh and level, like a long note

wù — 4th tonesharply falling, like “Stop!”

yuán — 2nd tonerising, like a surprised “huh?”

How to write it

公

gōng — public, common

务

wù — affair; engage in

At the bottom, 力 “strength”.

员

yuán — worker, member

On top, 口 “mouth”; below, 贝 “shell”.

Strokes go in order: top to bottom and left to right, horizontal before vertical. Tap a character to open its page, with the strokes shown large and the words it appears in. To train your hand, print a handwriting sheet for “公务员”.

More words from the lesson “Position and business card”

Look up another word in the Chinese–English dictionary: in English, in pinyin or in characters.

Frequently asked questions

How do you say “civil servant” in Chinese?

“Civil servant” in Chinese is 公务员, pinyin gōngwùyuán.

What does 公务员 mean?

公务员 (gōngwùyuán) means “civil servant”.

How do you write 公务员?

公务员 is 3 characters: 公 (gōng) — public, common; 务 (wù) — affair; engage in; 员 (yuán) — worker, member. The stroke order of each one is shown step by step on this page.

How do you pronounce 公务员?

公务员 is read gōngwùyuán. Tones: gōng — first tone, wù — fourth tone, yuán — second tone. The page has an audio recording.

“civil servant” in the lesson “Position and business card”

This word is from the topic “Work” of HSK 5. In the lesson you hear it in a dialogue, build a sentence with it and say it out loud. Start for free, no sign-up needed.

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