How to Write 汞 (gǒng) — Meaning “mercury”

Imagine a worker (工) standing in a puddle of liquid metal (水) — the worker is handling mercury. The sound "gǒng" can remind you of "gong", and you can picture a gong made of liquid mercury that ripples like water.

Write the top part 工 first: horizontal, vertical, horizontal. Then write the bottom part 水: left vertical hook, left-falling stroke, right-falling stroke, and finally a left-falling stroke. A common mistake is to write the bottom as three dots (氺) instead of the full character 水, so make sure to include the vertical hook.

汞 has the component 工 (two horizontal lines crossed by a vertical line) on top of 水, while 永 (yǒng, meaning forever) starts with a dot on the top left and has a different stroke structure. 氶 is a rare character, but 汞 is the only one with a clear 工 on top — remember: "work" (工) on "water" (水) equals mercury.

汞 appears mainly in scientific and technical contexts, such as in chemistry (汞灯 for mercury lamp) and medicine (汞中毒 for mercury poisoning). It is also found in traditional products like amalgam fillings (汞齐), though its use has declined due to toxicity. The character is not common in daily conversation but is essential for discussing hazardous materials.

Common words containing 汞 include: 汞齐 (gǒng qí) — amalgam; 汞中毒 (gǒng zhòng dú) — mercury poisoning; 汞灯 (gǒng dēng) — mercury lamp.