用功
yònggōng · HSK 7
study
📚 用功 = 用 (use) + 功 (effort/skill) = put effort to use, i.e. study hard
用 means to use and 功 means effort or merit-from-work. Apply your effort and you are 用功: diligent and studious. The same 功 shows up in 功夫 (gōngfu), the skill earned through hard practice.
用 — pictograph of a bucket or wooden pail
用 originally depicted a bucket or container, possibly a sacrificial vessel made of wood. Over time it was borrowed to mean 'to use' or 'employ,' losing its concrete object sense. The modern meaning 'use' has been standard since early classical Chinese.
功 — work 工 (phonetic) + strength 力 (semantic)
功 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The right side 力 (strength, a pictograph of a plow or flexed arm) gives the meaning, while 工 (work, originally a carpenter's square) supplies the sound. Together they convey effort applied to work — hence 'achievement, merit, accomplishment.'