公

Stroke order

Stroke order

公 (Kangxi radical 12, 八+2, 4 strokes, cangjie input 金戈 (CI), four-corner 8073₂, composition ⿱八厶)

• 伀, 㕬, 妐, 彸, 忪, 㳂, 昖, 松, 炂, 玜, 衳, 舩, 蚣, 䚗, 訟(讼), 䡆, 鈆(𫓪), 䰸
• 𣌶, 頌(颂), 䲲, 𠕺, 㝐, 枩, 䇗, 䯳, 𮮊, 兊, 忩, 枀, 瓮, 翁, 衮

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 126, character 28
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 1452
• Dae Jaweon: page 277, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 242, character 1
• Unihan data for U+516C

Historical forms of the character 公
Shang	Western Zhou	Spring and Autumn	Warring States			Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Qin slip script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts
Oracle bone script   j01453   j01454   j01455   j01456   j01457   j01458   j01459   j01460   j01461 Bronze inscriptions   b01003   b01004   b01005   b01006   b01007   b01008   b01009   b01010   b01011   b01012   b01013   b01014   b01015   b01016   b01017   b01018   b01019   b01020   b01021   b01022   b01023   b01024   b01025   b01026   b01027   b01028   b01029   b01030   b01031   b01032   b01033   b01034   b01035   b01036   b01037   b01038   b01039   b01040   b01041   b01042   b01043   b01044   b01045   b01046   b01047   b01048   b01049   b01050   b01051   b01052   b01053   b01054   b01055   b01056   b01057   b01058   b01059   b01060   b01061   b01062   b01063   b01064   b01065   b01066   b01067   b01068   b01069 Small seal script   s00797 Transcribed ancient scripts   L00339   L00340   L00341   L00342   L00343   L00344   L00345   L00346   L00347   L00348   L00349   L00350   L00351   L00352   L00353   L00354   L00355   L00356   L00357   L00358   L00359   L00360   L00361   L00362   L00363   L00364   L00365   L00366   L00367   L00368   L00369   L00370   L00371   L00372   L00373   L29774   L29775   L29776   L29777   L29778   L29779   L29780   L29781   L29782   L29783   L29784   L29785   L29786   L29787   L29788
References: Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation), which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including: Shuowen Jiezi (small seal), Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions), Liushutong (Liushutong characters) and Yinxu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).

 

The traditional interpretation as given by Han Feizi is that 公 is a compound of 八 (= 背 (“to deviate; opposite”)) and 厶 (original form of 私 (“individual; private”)), i.e. the opposite of “private” — “public”. This theory is supported by Sun Yirang and Qiang Kaiyun, despite the somewhat different shape of the bottom component from 厶.

This is disputed in modern times by Gao Hongjin, who thinks that the 八 on top stands for 分 (“to divide; to distribute”) and the bottom round component 口 symbolises a generic object. 公 thus represents “equally dividing resources so that they are communal”.

Another theory put forth by Zhu Fangpu is that 公 is a pictogram (象形) , being the original form of 瓮 (OC *qloːŋs, “a wide-mouthed round-bottomed jar”), and later borrowed for the meanings of “public” and “male of older generation or higher rank”.

"fair; impartial; public"

From Sino-Tibetan; cognate with Tibetan གུང (gung), དགུང (dgung, “middle”), considering that "middle" may be semantically associated with "balance" (Schuessler, 2007).

"male of older generation or higher rank; duke; male (of animals)"

This word has been connected to 翁 (OC *qloːŋ) (Wang, 1982; Unger, 1999; Baxter and Sagart, 2017). Baxter and Sagart (2017) also includes 妐 (OC *t-qoŋ, “husband's father”) in this word family.

STEDT provisionally sets up Proto-Sino-Tibetan *kaŋ (“father; grandfather; honorific”), also comparing it to 翁; compare Drung kangkang (“grandpa”), vkang (“(my/our) grandfather”), Burmese ခင် (hkang), as in မိခင် (mi.hkang, “mother”), ဖခင် (hpa.hkang, “father”). Alternatively, STEDT also compares it with Proto-Sino-Tibetan *gaŋ (“penis; male”), whence 雄 (OC *ɡʷɯŋ, “male”), but considers it less probable.

Schuessler (2007) suggests a Mon-Khmer origin; compare Khmer ឡូញ (louñ, “title of an unidentified rank or function”) and Old Khmer khloñ (“head, chief”) (whence ខ្លោង (khlaong)). Compare also Thai ลุง (lung), from Proto-Tai *luŋᴬ (“parent's older brother”), which may also be from Mon-Khmer. Tibetan ཁོང (khong) ~ གོང (gong, “final syllable in dignitaries' name”) may be borrowed from Chinese.

公

1. public; communal

   Antonym: 私 (sī)

   公共  ―  gōnggòng  ―  public

   公廁／公厕  ―  gōngcè  ―  public toilet

2. fair; equitable

   不公  ―  bùgōng  ―  unjust

3. to make public; to announce
4. international; universal

   公海  ―  gōnghǎi  ―  international waters

   公里  ―  gōnglǐ  ―  kilometer

   公尺  ―  gōngchǐ  ―  meter

5. duke

   大公  ―  dàgōng  ―  grand duke

6. (of animals) male

   Antonyms: 母 (mǔ), 乸 (naa²) (Cantonese)

   公雞／公鸡  ―  gōngjī  ―  rooster

   雞公／鸡公 [Cantonese]  ―  gai¹ gung¹ [Jyutping]  ―  rooster

7. (figuratively, of instruments, tools, or connectors) male

   Antonyms: 母 (mǔ), 乸 (naa²) (Cantonese)

8. (honorific) old man or a man of high status

   陳公大文之墓 [MSC, trad.]
   陈公大文之墓 [MSC, simp.]

   Chén gōng Dàwén zhī mù [Pinyin]

   Tomb of Mr. Chen Dawen (written on a tombstone)

   蔣公／蒋公  ―  Jiǎng gōng  ―  Chiang Kai-shek (honorific form)

9. grandfather
10. father-in-law (husband's father)

    公婆  ―  gōngpó  ―  parents-in-law (husband's parents)

11. (Cantonese) heads (side of a coin)
12. (Hakka) A noun suffix

    鼻公 [Sixian Hakka]  ―  phi-kûng [Pha̍k-fa-sṳ]  ―  nose

    貓公／猫公 [Meixian Hakka]  ―  miau⁴ gung¹ [Hakka Transliteration Scheme]  ―  cat

13. a surname