清洁工
qīng jié gōng · HSK 6
janitor
🧹🧤 qing jie gong = clean + clean/pure + worker — the cleanliness worker
Both 清 (qing, clear/pure) and 洁 (jie, clean) reinforce the same idea of cleanliness, while 工 (gong) means worker. Double-clean worker = someone whose whole job is making things spotless.
清 — water 氵 + 青 (azure/blue-green, phonetic)
清 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The water radical 氵 gives the meaning—originally clear, unmuddied water—while 青 (qīng, azure) supplies the sound and reinforces the image of pure blue-green water. The sense later broadened from 'clear water' to 'clear, pure, clean' in general.