公

Tap the pinyin to hear it

public; collectively owned; common; international (e.g. high seas, metric system, calendar); make public; fair; just; Duke, highest of five orders of nobility 五等爵位[wu3 deng3 jue2 wei4]; honorable (gentlemen); father-in-law; male (animal)

Make a writing worksheet

HSK 3.0: Level 2
Old HSK: Level 2
Strokes: 4
Radical: 八 +2
Structure: Top–bottom 上下
Traditional: 公
Common rank: #50
Unicode: U+516C

Sound it out + =

Formation & memory

Break the character into parts you already know.

How 公 is formed

Ideographic compound (会意字)

To divide 八 what is private 厶

Components 八厶

How to remember it

public · Heisig RSH #696

八 eight + elbow

Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.

Words with 公

The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
大公国	dà gōng guó	grand duchy
不公	bù gōng	unjust; unfair
公子	gōng zǐ	son of an official; son of nobility; your son (honorific)
大公	dà gōng	grand duke; impartial
马公市	Mǎ gōng shì	Makung city in Penghu county 澎湖縣\|澎湖县[Peng2 hu2 xian4] (Pescadores Islands), Taiwan
公国	gōng guó	duchy; dukedom; principality
气不公	qì bù gōng	indignant
公学	gōng xué	elite fee-charging independent school in England or Wales (e.g. Eton College)
公安县	Gōng ān Xiàn	Gong'an, a county in Jingzhou City 荊州市\|荆州市[Jing1 zhou1 Shi4], Hubei
花花公子	huā huā gōng zǐ	playboy
公心	gōng xīn	fair-mindedness; public spirit
公地	gōng dì	public land; land in common use
天公	tiān gōng	heaven; lord of heaven
公马	gōng mǎ	male horse; stallion; stud
马公	Mǎ gōng	Makung city in Penghu county 澎湖縣\|澎湖县[Peng2 hu2 xian4] (Pescadores Islands), Taiwan
公家	gōng jiā	the public; the state; society; the public purse
家公	jiā gōng	head of a family; (polite) my father; (polite) my grandfather; your esteemed father
主人公	zhǔ rén gōng	hero (of a novel or film); main protagonist
公有化	gōng yǒu huà	to nationalize; to take over as communal property
天公地道	tiān gōng dì dào	absolutely fair and reasonable (idiom); equitable

Sound family

These characters use 公 as their sound component — compare how they read.

Character	Pinyin	Meaning
公 sound part	gōng	fair, equitable; public; duke
松	sōng	pine tree; fir tree
翁	wēng	old man; father, father-in-law
讼	sòng	to accuse, to argue; to dispute, to litigate
颂	sòng	to laud, to acclaim; ode, hymn
瓮	wèng	urn, earthen jar
忪	sōng	calm, peaceful; quiet, tranquil
彸	zhōng	agitated, restless
蚣	gōng	centipede
鈆	yán	lead (element)