公司
company; firm
gōngsī
What does 公司 mean?
公司 (gōngsī) is the standard Chinese word for 'company' — any commercial business, from a two-person startup to a multinational corporation. It covers what English speakers call a company, firm, or corporation. Three things to know: (1) the measure word is 家 not 个 — 一家公司 (one company); (2) when naming a specific company, 公司 typically comes at the end — 苹果公司 (Apple Company), 中国石油公司 (China Petroleum Company); (3) the word 'office' (where you work) is 办公室 (bàngōngshì), not 公司 — saying 我去公司 means 'I'm going to the company' (i.
e. the workplace), which functions like English 'I'm going to the office.' Common compounds include 公司里
Character breakdown
public; collective
to manage; to take charge of
Memory hook: 公 (public) + 司 (to manage) = a publicly managed entity = a company.
Measure word for 公司
Example sentences
我在一家中国公司工作。
Wǒ zài yì jiā Zhōngguó gōngsī gōngzuò.
I work at a Chinese company.
neutral
我们公司很大。
Wǒmen gōngsī hěn dà.
Our company is big.
spoken
他每天八点去公司。
Tā měitiān bā diǎn qù gōngsī.
He goes to the office at eight every day.
neutral
这家公司有三百个人。
Zhè jiā gōngsī yǒu sān bǎi gè rén.
This company has three hundred people.
neutral
我想自己开一家公司。
Wǒ xiǎng zìjǐ kāi yì jiā gōngsī.
I want to start my own company.
spoken
Common phrases with 公司
Hear it in real Fluentide episodes
公司 appears in 10 podcast episodes at natural native speed, with full Chinese script, pinyin, and line-by-line English translation.
Synonyms
企业 ('enterprise') is a more formal/abstract term used in news, policy, and HR contexts — covers companies plus state-owned enterprises and broader business units. 公司 refers to a specific incorporated company you can walk into.
单位 means 'work unit' — your employer in general, including government bodies, schools, and hospitals. 公司 only refers to commercial companies. Older speakers and government workers especially use 单位.