功

• Achievement/Accomplishment: The successful completion of a difficult task; the efficacy or "good result" of an action.
• Merit and Service: Earned value; specifically, service rendered to a sovereign or state that warrants reward.
• Effort/Investment: The time and labor invested in a process (generally secondary to the sense of result).

• Noun: Primary function denoting merit or achievement.
• Attribute: Suggests an object is "effective," "complete," or "earned."
• Aspect of Completion: In certain descriptive phrases regarding a process, it may denote the culmination or the act of bringing something to its successful conclusion.

// vs. 成 (chéng): While //chéng// denotes the state of being finished or the fact of completion, //gōng* denotes the value, quality, or merit produced by that completion.

// vs. 勞 (láo): //Láo// refers to raw labor, hardship, and exhaustion; //gōng* is the productive outcome derived from such labor.

Tang-period reading: *gung (Fanqie: 古紅).

Combines 工 (work/craft) and 力 (strength/effort), representing achievement born of purposeful exertion.

Avoid importing modern technical meanings, such as "energy" or "work" in the context of physics, or specialized notions of "power" found in martial arts contexts. In classical texts, prioritize "merit," "attainment," or "achievement."