skillfulness; cleverness; ingenuity
Refers to the quality of being skillful, clever, or ingenious. Often used in literary or formal contexts; in everyday speech, 上手さ or 器用さ are more common.
I am amazed at the cleverness of his conversational skills.
This piece shines with the skillfulness of the artisan.
拙 means clumsiness or unskillfulness, the direct opposite of the skillfulness expressed by 巧.
功 (こう) is a homophone meaning merit or achievement, quite different from 巧, which means skillfulness or ingenuity.
The kanji 巧 is composed of 工 (work, craft) and 丂 (a phonetic component). It originally conveyed the idea of skillful workmanship. The reading こう is the on'yomi.
skill; cleverness
courteous laughter; forced laughter; polite smile
flattery; smooth talk; clever words
elaborate but slow; polished but slow
fine workmanship; delicate craftsmanship
experienced; seasoned; veteran
ingenious but pointless trick; artifice for its own sake