公

公 (radical 12, 八+2, 4 strokes, cangjie input 金戈 (CI), four-corner 8073₂, composition ⿱八厶)

• KangXi: page 126, character 28
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 1452
• Dae Jaweon: page 277, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 242, character 1
• Unihan data for U+516C

Historical forms of the character 公
Shang	Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts
Oracle bone script j01453 j01454 j01455 j01456 j01457 j01458 j01459 j01460 j01461 Bronze inscriptions b01003 b01004 b01005 b01006 b01007 b01008 b01009 b01010 b01011 b01012 b01013 b01014 b01015 b01016 b01017 b01018 b01019 b01020 b01021 b01022 b01023 b01024 b01025 b01026 b01027 b01028 b01029 b01030 b01031 b01032 b01033 b01034 b01035 b01036 b01037 b01038 b01039 b01040 b01041 b01042 b01043 b01044 b01045 b01046 b01047 b01048 b01049 b01050 b01051 b01052 b01053 b01054 b01055 b01056 b01057 b01058 b01059 b01060 b01061 b01062 b01063 b01064 b01065 b01066 b01067 b01068 b01069 Small seal script s00797 Transcribed ancient scripts L00339 L00340 L00341 L00342 L00343 L00344 L00345 L00346 L00347 L00348 L00349 L00350 L00351 L00352 L00353 L00354 L00355 L00356 L00357 L00358 L00359 L00360 L00361 L00362 L00363 L00364 L00365 L00366 L00367 L00368 L00369 L00370 L00371 L00372 L00373 L29774 L29775 L29776 L29777 L29778 L29779 L29780 L29781 L29782 L29783 L29784 L29785 L29786 L29787 L29788
References: Mostly from Richard Sears' Chinese Etymology site (authorisation), which in turn draws data from various collections of ancient forms of Chinese characters, including: Shuowen Jiezi (small seal), Jinwen Bian (bronze inscriptions), Liushutong (Liushutong characters) and Yinxu Jiaguwen Bian (oracle bone script).

A 瓮 from the Longshan culture (also called Black Pottery Culture) [3000 – 1900 BC].

The traditional interpretation as given by Han Feizi is that 公 is a compound of 八 (= 背 (“to deviate; opposite”)) and 厶 (original form of 私 (“individual; private”)), i.e. the opposite of “private” — “public”. This theory is supported by Sun Yirang and Qiang Kaiyun, despite the somewhat different shape of the bottom component from 厶.

This is disputed in modern times by Gao Hongjin, who thinks that the 八 on top stands for 分 (“to divide; to distribute”) and the bottom round component 口 symbolises a generic object. 公 thus represents “equally dividing resources so that they are communal”.

Another theory put forth by Zhu Fangpu is that 公 is a pictogram (象形) , being the original form of 瓮 (OC *qloːŋs, “a wide-mouthed round-bottomed jar”), and later borrowed for the meanings of “public” and “male of older generation or higher rank”.

"fair; impartial; public"

From Sino-Tibetan; cognate with Tibetan གུང (gung), དགུང (dgung, “middle”), considering that "middle" may be semantically associated with "balance" (Schuessler, 2007).

"male of older generation or higher rank; duke; male (of animals)"

This word has been connected to 翁 (OC *qloːŋ) (Wang, 1982; Unger, 1999; Baxter and Sagart, 2017). Baxter and Sagart (2017) also includes 妐 (OC *t-qoŋ, “husband's father”) in this word family.

STEDT provisionally sets up Proto-Sino-Tibetan *kaŋ (“father; grandfather; honorific”), also comparing it to 翁; compare Drung kang (“grandfather; great-uncle; master”), Burmese ခင် (hkang), as in မိခင် (mi.hkang, “mother”), ဖခင် (hpa.hkang, “father”). Alternatively, STEDT also compares it with Proto-Sino-Tibetan *gaŋ (“penis; male”), whence 雄 (OC *ɡʷɯŋ, “male”), but considers it less probable.

Schuessler (2007) suggests a Mon-Khmer origin; compare Khmer ឡូញ (louñ, “title of an unidentified rank or function”) and Old Khmer khloñ (“head, chief”) (whence ខ្លោង (khlaong)). Compare also Thai ลุง (lung), from Proto-Tai *luŋᴬ (“parent's older brother”), which may also be from Mon-Khmer. Tibetan [script needed] (khong) ~ [script needed] (gong, “final syllable in dignitaries' name”) may be borrowed from Chinese.

公

1. public; communal

   Antonyms: 私 (sī)

2. fair; equitable
3. to make public; to announce
4. international; universal

   公海  ―  gōnghǎi  ―  international waters

   公里  ―  gōnglǐ  ―  kilometer

   公尺  ―  gōngchǐ  ―  meter

5. duke
6. (of animals) male

   Antonyms: 母 (mǔ)

   公雞 / 公鸡  ―  gōngjī  ―  rooster

7. A surname​.

Others:

• → Mongolian: гүн (gün)
• → Manchu: ᡤᡠᠩ (gung)

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

• Go-on: く (ku)
• Kan-on: こう (kō, Jōyō)^{←こう (kou, historical)}
• Kun: おおやけ (ōyake, 公, Jōyō)^{←おほやけ (ofoyake, historical)}; きみ (kimi, 公)

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) おおやけ [òóyáké] (Heiban – [0])[1]
  • IPA^(key): [o̞ːja̠ke̞]

公 (hiragana おおやけ, rōmaji ōyake, historical hiragana おほやけ)

1. official, governmental

From Middle Chinese 公 (MC kuŋ).

• On’yomi: Kan’on
  • (Tokyo) こ​ー [kóꜜò] (Atamadaka – [1])[1]
  • IPA^(key): [ko̞ː]

公 (hiragana こう, rōmaji kō)

1. prince, duke

公 (hiragana きみ, rōmaji kimi)

1. Alternative form of 君

公 (eumhun 공평할 공 (gongpyeonghal gong))

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公 (công)

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