King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Japanese symbol for “labour”

Romaji: shigoto
work; job; labor; labour

In Japanese, labour is , read (shigoto).

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, vi, vs work; job; labor; labour; business; task
  2. n work (physics)

Kanji and stroke order

attend, doing, official
on: シ、ジ
kun: つか.える
5 strokes · JLPT 3
matter, thing, fact
on: ジ、ズ
kun: こと、つか.う、つか.える
8 strokes · JLPT 3

Other Japanese words for “labour”

WordReadingMeaning
ろうどう roudoulabor; labour; work
ろうりょく rouryokulabour; labor; effort
はたらき hatarakiwork; labor; labour
くろう kuroutrouble; hardship; difficulty
てま tematime; labour; labor

Related words

Words that share a kanji.

WordReadingMeaning
しかた shikataway; method; means
しくみ shikumistructure; construction; arrangement
しあげ shiagefinish; finishing; finishing touches
ほうし houshiservice; ministry; attendance
しよう shiyouway; method; means
じけん jikenevent; affair; incident
きじ kijiarticle; news story; report
じぎょう jigyoubusiness; enterprise; venture

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.