Meaning & readings
post, employment, work
On’yomi ショク、ソク
Nanori もと
Origin
This character combines the ear radical on the left, which classifies characters related to hearing and attention, with a sound hint on the right that suggests the pronunciation. The ear component hints at the idea of listening to or attending to one's duties and responsibilities. Over time, the character came to mean a post or job — something you must attend to and listen to instructions about. The sound component provides the pronunciation guide rather than adding to the meaning.
Components
- 耳
- 戠
A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.
Common words
- 汚職 おしょく corruption (esp. by a government employee); bribery
- 休職 きゅうしょく temporary retirement; leave of absence
- 求職 きゅうしょく job hunting; seeking employment
- 現職 げんしょく present post; current office
- 公職 こうしょく public office
- 在職 ざいしょく being in office; holding a position
- 辞職 じしょく resignation
- 就職 しゅうしょく finding employment; getting a job
Easily confused with
These look alike but are unrelated in meaning — check the stroke that differs.
Reference
- Strokes
- 18
- Kangxi radical
- 128
- Formation type
- Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
- Grade
- Grade 5 (Kyōiku)
- Frequency rank
- #305 (newspapers)
- Former JLPT
- level 2
- Unicode
- U+08077