King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “employment”

Romaji: koyou
employment; hire

In Japanese, employment is , read (koyou).

Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.

Meanings

  1. n, vs, vt employment; hire

Written forms: . Readings: .

Kanji and stroke order

employ, hire
on: コ
kun: やと.う
12 strokes · JLPT 2
utilize, business, service
on: ヨウ
kun: もち.いる
5 strokes · JLPT 3

Other Japanese words for “employment”

WordReadingMeaning
しごと shigotowork; job; labor
しよう shiyouuse; application; employment
じゅうぎょう juugyouemployment
しょく shokujob; work; employment
さいよう saiyouappointment; employment; engagement

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
かいこ kaikodismissal (of an employee); discharge; firing
やとう yatouto employ; to hire; to take on
やといぬし yatoinushiemployer
やとい yatoiemployee; employment
ひやとい hiyatoidaily employment; hiring by the day; day laborer
しよう shiyouuse; application; employment
りよう riyouuse; utilization; utilisation
さいよう saiyouuse; adoption; acceptance

See also: Chinese symbol for “employment”.

Data: JMdict (CC BY-SA 4.0); KANJIDIC2 (CC BY-SA 4.0); KanjiVG (CC BY-SA 3.0); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.