工厂

• Pinyin: gōng chǎng
• Hanzi breakdown: 工 = pictograph of a carpenter's tool or work; 厂 = pictograph of a cliff or open shed

Meaning

Factory; plant. A building or group of buildings where goods are manufactured.

Refers to any industrial facility where products are made, from small workshops to large manufacturing plants. Commonly appears in compounds like 汽车工厂 (car factory), 食品工厂 (food factory). The word covers all scales of manufacturing.

Examples

1. 这家工厂生产各种电子产品。 This factory produces all kinds of electronic products.
2. 他爸爸在一家汽车工厂工作。 His father works at a car factory.
3. 新的工厂下个月就要开始运行了。 The new factory will start operating next month.

Usage Guide

Context: industry, work, everyday

Tone: descriptive

Do Say

• 这个工厂有三百多个工人。(This factory has over three hundred workers.)
• 工厂每天早上八点开始上班。(The factory starts work at eight every morning.)

Don't Say

• 我去工厂买了一件衣服。(Don't confuse 工厂 with 商店 — factories manufacture goods but usually don't sell directly to customers. Say 我去商店买了一件衣服.)

Origin & History

Compound of 工 (work/industry) and 厂 (factory/shed). 厂 originally depicted an open-sided building or cliff shelter, later specialised to mean an industrial building.

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal