wages; salary; pay
HSK level
工资 is written with 13 strokes (工: 3, 资: 10). The animation replays automatically.
工资 (gōngzī) means 'wages, salary, or pay' — the money an employee earns for their work, usually paid monthly in China.
Literally 'work-funds,' it is the standard everyday word for regular employment income. Two differences from English: first, English splits 'wages' (often hourly, blue-collar) from 'salary' (fixed, white-collar), but 工资 covers both — context or a modifier distinguishes them, and the more formal 薪水/薪资 (xīnshuǐ/xīnzī) leans toward professional salary. Second, 工资 refers specifically to base pay for labor; bonuses are 奖金 (jiǎngjīn) and total income is 收入 (shōurù), so a Chinese speaker separates these where English might loosely say 'pay.'
Common verbs: 发工资 'to pay out wages,' 领工资 'to collect one's pay,' 涨工资 'to get a raise.' Register is neutral and used in all everyday work talk.
Character by character
Memory hook: 工 (work) + 资 (funds) = funds earned from work, i.e. wages.
工资 appears in 1 Fluentide podcast episode at natural native speed — each with the full Chinese script, pinyin, and line-by-line English translation.
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Wǒ měi ge yuè shí hào fā gōngzī.
I get paid on the 10th of every month.
spoken
他的工资不高，但工作很轻松。
Tā de gōngzī bù gāo, dàn gōngzuò hěn qīngsōng.
His salary isn't high, but the job is easy.
neutral
老板给我涨工资了。
Lǎobǎn gěi wǒ zhǎng gōngzī le.
The boss gave me a raise.
spoken
这份工作的工资是多少？
Zhè fèn gōngzuò de gōngzī shì duōshao?
What's the salary for this job?
neutral
薪水 is a slightly more formal/professional word for salary, common in white-collar and HR contexts. 工资 is the plainer, everyday word covering both wages and salary. In casual talk 工资 is more common; 薪水 sounds a touch more corporate.
收入 means 'income' — all money coming in, including salary, bonuses, and side earnings. 工资 is specifically the base pay from your job. Your 工资 is one part of your total 收入.
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