5,612 new entries added last week

  • my nciku
  • conversations
  • Q&A
  • theme words
  • tools
  • nciku mini

listen

 Auto Play

listen

 Auto Play
HSK rank
工夫

★★

Font Size

Collins Chinese-English Dictionary

工夫 [gōngfu]
  1. 1. noun [时间] time
    这份作业很花工夫。
    The assignment took a long time to complete.
  2. 2. noun [空闲] spare time
    有工夫到我这里来。
    If you have any spare time do come over to my place.

Comprehensive Chinese-English Dictionary

工夫 [gōngfu]
  1. 1. time
    他三天工夫就学会了滑冰。
    It took him only three days to learn to skate.
    她去了没多大工夫就回来了。
    She didn't take long to get there and come back.
    几天工夫过去了，怎么还没做完啊？
    别在这耽误工夫了！
  2. 2. [dialect] at that time
    我当闺女那工夫，连大门都不敢出。
    When I was a girl, I didn't even dare to go outdoors.
    他做厂长那工夫，可气派呢！
  3. 3. workmanship; skill; art
    练工夫
    (of actors, athletes, etc.) practise
    这位杂技演员可真有工夫!
    The acrobat's skill is really superb!
    这是一部工夫影片。
    他那三脚猫的工夫，还在这儿献丑。
  4. 4. effort; work
    花了好大工夫
    put in a lot of work
    这幅作品我费了好大工夫才完成的。

Contemporary Standard Chinese Dictionary

工夫 [gōngfu]
  1. 1. 名 (做事)所耗费的时间
    白费工夫
  2. 2. 名 空闲时间
    我没有工夫去看戏
  3. 3. 名 [口] 一段时间;时候
    我刚参加工作那工夫,社会经验很少
See more results for 工夫 in the English-Chinese Dictionary

Examples

他费了好多工夫才把电视机修好。
It took him a lot of time to get the TV set repaired. → 费工夫
他三天工夫就学会了滑冰。
It took him only three days to learn to skate. → 工夫
她去了没多大工夫就回来了。
She didn't take long to get there and come back. → 工夫
我当闺女那工夫，连大门都不敢出。
When I was a girl, I didn't even dare to go outdoors. → 工夫
练工夫
(of actors, athletes, etc.) practise → 工夫
这位杂技演员可真有工夫!
The acrobat's skill is really superb! → 工夫
花了好大工夫
put in a lot of work → 工夫
我何尝不想去，只是没工夫罢了。
Not that I don't want to go; I just haven't got the time. → 何尝
他实在太忙了，连缓口气的工夫都没有。
He was so busy that he didn't even have a chance to take a breather. → 缓气
写文章要下一番剪裁的工夫。
In writing an essay one must do a lot of pruning. → 剪裁
more 49 more results

Collocations

几天工夫
several days time
一番工夫
some time
下工夫
to spend one's time on something

Word Decomposition

工
[gōng] 		+ 夫
[fū]

nciku Note

工夫 and 时间

这两个词都指“时候”，“时间”比较正式；“工夫”只用于口语，多表示时段，较少表示时点。有时可互换。
Both words mean “time." 时间 is more formal; 工夫 is only used in speech to mean “a period of time." Sometimes the two are interchangeable.
(1)这阵子他忙得连吃饭的工夫（时间）都没有。
（2）才三天的工夫（时间），他就看完了这本书。
“时间”可用于正式的表达，“工夫”不能。“时间”还可以组成“时间观念”、“节约时间”、“营业时间”等搭配，“工夫”也不能。
时间 can be used in formal speech, while 工夫 cannot; 时间 can make up phrases such as 时间观念，节约时间，营业时间 etc., while 工夫 cannot be used.
(3)时间就是生命。
（4）这家银行的营业时间是从早上九点到下午五点。
但“工夫”可说“工夫不大”、“不大工夫”，“时间”不能。
工夫 can be used in phrases like "工夫不大" or "不大工夫," (both mean "in very short time"), but 时间 cannot be used.
(5)不大工夫，他就写完了作业。

by nciku_edu

View other nciku notes

Would you like to know more about this word? Simply click the button on the right to ask real people.
You can also check your questions and answers at ‘ My nciku > Posts ’.

Ask a Question

Thesaurus

Revised Vocab Lists

This word has been edited
1 time by users.

View

Recently Reviewed Words

help make nciku betterSend Feedback
Content partners 外研社collins