員
員 — Employee
employee, member, number, the one in charge
On’yomiイン (in)
Kun’yomi—
Stroke order (10 strokes)
Watch the strokes draw themselves in the correct order — numbers mark where each stroke starts. Diagram from KanjiVG (CC BY-SA).
Common words using 員
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 委員 | いいん iin | committee member |
| 委員会 | いいんかい iinkai | committee; commission; board |
| 委員長 | いいんちょう iinchou | chairperson (of a committee); chair; chairman |
| 会員 | かいいん kaiin | member; the membership |
| 議員 | ぎいん giin | member of an assembly; member of the Diet; member of parliament |
| 職員 | しょくいん shokuin | staff member; employee; worker |
Study notes
員 is a JLPT N4 kanji written with 10 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 3), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #54 of the 2,500 most frequent kanji in newspapers. On’yomi (音読み) are Chinese-derived readings mostly used in compound words; kun’yomi (訓読み) are native Japanese readings, with any highlighted part written in hiragana after the kanji (okurigana).
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