工作

工

go̅ng

作

zuò

to work / (of a machine) to operate / job / work / task / CL:個|个[ge4],份[fen4],項|项[xiang4]

Characters and words in 工作

工

go̅ng = gu + (e)ng1

work / worker / skill / profession / trade / craft / labor

工 = 二 + 丨 : Mnemonic symbol: a steel beam, since 工 looks like the cross section of a steel beam.

Gitta Giraffe (gu) is working a shift in front of the engine ((e)ng1). Her job is to melt dinosaur bones (丨) so that they can be disposed off easily. To melt the bones, she is shorting a huge capacitor (二) with a steel beam (工) which consequently heats up to a bright glow. Using the glowing hot steel beam she can melt the dinosaur bone easily.

作

zuo̅ = zu + o1

worker / workshop / (slang) troublesome / high-maintenance (person)

作

zuò = zu + o4

to do; to engage in / to write; to compose / to pretend; to feign / to regard as; to consider to be / to be; to act the part of / to feel (itchy, nauseous etc) / writings; works

作 = 乍 + 亻 : Rosa Luxemburg (亻) and Zapatista Zebra (zu) are high-fiveing in the observatory's bathroom (o4) because they're growing so awesome Mohawk (乍) haircuts.