work / worker / skill / profession / trade / craft / labor

= + : Mnemonic symbol: a steel beam, since 工 looks like the cross section of a steel beam.

Gitta Giraffe (gu) is working a shift in front of the engine ((e)ng1). Her job is to melt dinosaur bones (丨) so that they can be disposed off easily. To melt the bones, she is shorting a huge capacitor (二) with a steel beam (工) which consequently heats up to a bright glow. Using the glowing hot steel beam she can melt the dinosaur bone easily.

工 character breakdown

radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 2)

Mnemonic symbol: a dinosaur bone. Gitta Giraffe (gu-) found a gorgeous dinosaur bone (丨) in the encampment's living room ((e)n3).
vertical stroke (in Chinese characters), referred to as 豎筆|竖笔[shu4 bi3]

Mnemonic symbol: a dinosaur bone. Sheldon Shrimp (shu) found a gorgeous dinosaur bone (丨) in the space station's bathroom (Ø4) and is cracking it open to eat its bone marrow.
two / 2 / (Beijing dialect) stupid

= : Mnemonic symbol: a capacitor, because the two strokes remind me of the symbol in electrical drawings. Albert Einstein (Ø) is experimenting with a capacitor (二) in the space station's bathroom (Ø4). He finds that it's uncomfortable to discharge a capacitor using two flutes (一).

Characters with 工 as component

five / 5

= + : Mnemonic symbol: a pentagram.

Martin Luther King (王) helps Willy Walrus (w) to construct a pentagram (五) out of dinosaur bones (丨) inside the space station (Ø3).

= + : Mnemonic symbol: a pentagram.

In the space station (Ø3), Willy Walrus (w) chops up a steel beam (工) with a sickle (乛) into five (五) equal parts. He uses the five parts to assemble a steel pentagram (五).
meritorious deed or service / achievement / result / service / accomplishment / work (physics)

= + : Gitta Giraffe (gu) practices her Kung Fu skills (功) in front of the engine ((e)ng1) with a sparring robot made out of steel beams (工). The robot is programmed to fight Kung Fu (功), but Gitta Giraffe's Kung Fu is better: she hits the robots power button (力) and turns it off.
to guard / to protect / to defend / abbr. for 衛生|卫生, hygiene / health / abbr. for 衛生間|卫生间, toilet / surname Wei / vassal state during the Zhou Dynasty (1066-221 BC), located in present day Henan and Hebei Provinces

= + : A steel beam (工) came loose in the Eiffel Tower's bathroom (ei4). Willy Walrus (w) guards (卫) the scene with a crowbar (亅) against gazers until the construction team to repair it arrives.
mound / hillock / grave / classifier for fields / surname Qiu

= 丿 + + : In front of the outhouse (ou1), the Queen of Hearts (qi) set up a mound (丘) for her relatives. She also put a gate in front of it where the two pillars are a steel beam (工) and a dinosaur bone (丨) respectively, and the horizontal beam is a banana (丿).
variant of 丘[qiu1] / hillock
surname Wu / also pr. [Wu2]
witch / wizard / shaman / also pr. [wu2]

= + : Willy Walrus (w) is fighting a wizard (巫) in front of the space station (Ø1). He is wielding a steel beam (工), while the wizard is casting rubber chicken (从).
variant of 槓|杠[gang4]

= + : In the anglepod's bathroom (ang4) Guy Fawkes (g) finds a steel beam (工) under the Christmas tree (木). He sharpens it like a knife (杠) to obtain a pole (杠) and starts practicing pole (杠) dancing.
coffin-bearing pole (old) / thick pole / bar / rod / thick line / to mark with a thick line / to sharpen (a knife, razor etc) / to get into a dispute with / standard / criterion

= + : In the anglepod's bathroom (ang4) Guy Fawkes (g) finds a steel beam (工) under the Christmas tree (木). He sharpens it like a knife (杠) to obtain a pole (杠) and starts practicing pole (杠) dancing.
flagpole / footbridge
surname Zuo

= 𠂇 + : Mnemonic symbol: a communist.

Zapatista Zebra (zu) and the communist (左) teamed up for once to sabotage capitalism. They start by trying to cut a steel beam (工) using scissors (𠂇) inside of the observatory (o3).
left / the Left (politics) / east / unorthodox / queer / wrong / differing / opposite / variant of 佐[zuo3]

= 𠂇 + : Mnemonic symbol: a communist.

Zapatista Zebra (zu) and the communist (左) teamed up for once to sabotage capitalism. They start by trying to cut a steel beam (工) using scissors (𠂇) inside of the observatory (o3).

Words with 工

to go to work / to start work
to put in time and energy / to concentrate one's efforts
to knock off (at the end of a day's work) / to finish work
G7, the group of 7 industrialized countries: US, Japan, Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Canada (now G8, including Russia)

Sentences with 工

工 currently does not appear in any sentence.