How to write 公 (gōng, “public”)

公 (gōng), an HSK 1 character, means “public”, “collectively owned” and “common”. It is HSK 1 in the 2025 syllabus, down from level 2 in the 2021 standard. It is a character whose parts combine into its meaning. On its own it is an HSK 6 word; it also forms 公司 (“company”), 公交车 (“public transport vehicle”) and 公园 (“park (for public recreation)”). Japanese reads it kou, “public”, as a JLPT N4 kanji.

Pinyin: gōng
Strokes: 4
HSK: 1
Radical: 八 (“eight”)

Stroke by stroke

As a top-bottom character it splits into 八 (“eight”, the radical), strokes 1–2; 厶 (“private”), strokes 3–4, written the top first.

Left-falling stroke ㇒top leftdown and left
Right-falling stroke ㇏topdown and right
Left-falling-turn ㇜centerdown and left → rightwards
Dot ㇔centerdown and right

Names of the strokes

Japanese and Chinese

Japanese and Chinese draw all 4 strokes in the same order and direction, by our stroke-by-stroke comparison.

Japanese · KanjiVG · 4 strokes

Chinese · Make Me a Hanzi · 4 strokes

Where 公 comes from

To divide 八 what is private 厶

Trace it

Follow the numbers. Tracing help

Pinyin and meaning

Pinyin	Meanings	Traditional	In words
gōng first tone	public; collectively owned; common; international (e.g. high seas, metric system, calendar); make public	—	公司公交车公园公斤

HSK 2025 syllabus: level 1
2021 standard: level 2
HSK 2.0: in a level 2 word
Words with it: 391 in CC-CEDICT

Words with 公

Word	Pinyin	Meaning
公	gōng	public; collectively owned HSK 6
公司	gōngsī	company; firm HSK 1
公交车公交車	gōngjiāochē	public transport vehicle; town bus HSK 2
公园公園	gōngyuán	park (for public recreation) HSK 3
公斤	gōngjīn	kilogram (kg) HSK 3
办公室辦公室	bàngōngshì	office; business premises HSK 3
公里	gōnglǐ	kilometer HSK 4
公路	gōnglù	highway; road HSK 4
公共	gōnggòng	public; common HSK 4
办公辦公	bàngōng	to handle official business; to do (office) work HSK 4

HSK words first (CC-CEDICT).

Practice sheet

Print at 100%. Several characters: worksheet maker.

Keep going

HSK 1, in list order: