雇

• Pinyin: gù
• Hanzi breakdown: 雇 = 户 (household, door) + 隹 (bird) — originally depicting sheltering or employing; extended to hiring labor for pay

Meaning

To hire; to engage someone for work in exchange for payment. Used for both short-term service arrangements (a taxi, a workman) and longer-term employment relationships.

A versatile verb covering hiring from labor contractors to domestic workers to professionals. Used in both formal and informal contexts. Common compounds: 雇主 (employer), 雇员 (employee), 雇佣 (to employ). Note: for regular corporate employment, 聘用 or 录用 is more common; 雇 often implies more transactional or informal labor arrangements.

Examples

1. 施工队雇了一批临时工来完成这个紧迫的建设项目。 The construction team hired a group of temporary workers to finish this urgent building project.
2. 她家里雇了一位保姆，专门照料年迈的公婆。 She hired a nanny for the household to take care of her elderly parents-in-law.
3. 公司计划在年底前再雇十名工程师，以应对业务扩张的需求。 The company plans to hire ten more engineers before the end of the year to meet the needs of its business expansion.

Usage Guide

Context: employment, labor, business, domestic services, construction

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 工厂每逢旺季便大量雇用临时工，淡季结束后再逐步缩减人员规模。(The factory hires large numbers of temporary workers during peak season and gradually reduces headcount after the slow season ends.)
• 律师事务所决定雇一名专职翻译，以处理日益增多的涉外法律事务。(The law firm decided to hire a full-time translator to handle the growing volume of international legal matters.)

Don't Say

• 将'雇'直接用于正式招聘高级管理人员的场合 — for recruiting senior executives or professionals use 聘请 or 聘用; 雇 is better suited to hiring labor or service workers

Origin & History

雇 originally depicted providing shelter and work for someone (户 = household + 隹 = bird). Extended to the sense of engaging someone in labor for pay.

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal