How to Write 扛 (gāng/káng) — Meaning “to carry on the shoulder”

Picture a strong worker using his hand (扌) to lift a heavy tool that looks like the character 工 onto his shoulder. The shape of 工, with two horizontal lines and a vertical line, reminds me of a shoulder pole carrying a load.

Write the left radical 扌 first: horizontal, vertical hook, then lift. For the right part 工, write horizontal, vertical, horizontal. A common mistake is making the vertical hook in 扌 too curved — keep it straight. Also, make sure the two horizontal strokes in 工 are even and not too long.

扛 uses the hand radical 扌 with 工 on the right, meaning "to carry on the shoulder". 扎 also uses 扌 but its right part is a bent stroke (乚), meaning "to pierce" or "to tie". Visually, the right side of 扛 has a neat 工 shape with two horizontals, while 扎 has a single vertical bending to the left.

You use 扛 for physically carrying something on one shoulder, like 扛枪 (shoulder a gun) or 扛行李 (carry luggage on one's shoulder). It can also be used figuratively, such as 扛责任 (to bear responsibility). A famous idiom is 力能扛鼎, meaning someone is strong enough to lift a heavy tripod, which comes from an ancient story about a man who lifted a bronze vessel.

Common words containing 扛 include: 扛枪 (káng qiāng) — to shoulder a gun; 扛行李 (káng xíng lǐ) — to carry luggage on one's shoulder; 力能扛鼎 (lì néng gāng dǐng) — Strong enough to lift a heavy tripod; possessing great strength.