JŌYŌ KANJI · Grade 3
employee
employee · member · number · the one in charge
Readings
Official Jōyō readings in table order
On’yomi 音読み
Kun’yomi 訓読み
None listed in this source.
Origin and meaning
Its original form referred to a round cauldron; counting cauldrons led to a counting sense.
Written form
No parenthesized form is given in the official Jōyō index for this character.
Compare manuscript and printed examples in the HNG historical glyph archive ↗. Where available, its dated samples document written forms; they do not establish the first use of this character in Japan.
Examples in the official table
- 満員，定員，社員
When did it enter Japanese?
Chinese characters reached Japan through a long process of contact. Early inscribed objects and sixth-century Japanese names are documented; this is context for the writing system, not a first date for 員.
員 appears in the current Jōyō kanji table published on 30 November 2010. This records modern standard status, not the date the character was first used in Japan.
A dated first Japanese use for 員 has not been verified in the sources attached to this entry.
Agency for Cultural Affairs: writing history ↗ · 2010 Jōyō notice ↗