Japanese symbol for “occupation”
職業
しょくぎょう
Romaji: shokugyou
occupation; profession; job; vocation
In Japanese, occupation is 職業, read しょくぎょう (shokugyou).
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
- n occupation; profession; job; vocation; career; trade
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “occupation”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 仕事 | しごと shigoto | work; job; labor |
| 職 | しょく shoku | job; work; employment |
| 占拠 | せんきょ senkyo | occupation; taking and maintaining exclusive control (of a location) |
| 進駐 | しんちゅう shinchuu | occupation; stationing |
| 商売 | しょうばい shoubai | occupation; calling; profession |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 職場 | しょくば shokuba | one's post; place of work; workplace |
| 職員 | しょくいん shokuin | staff member; employee; worker |
| 就職 | しゅうしょく shuushoku | finding employment; getting a job |
| 退職 | たいしょく taishoku | retirement; resignation |
| 職人 | しょくにん shokunin | craftsman; artisan; tradesman |
| 企業 | きぎょう kigyou | enterprise; business; company |
| 事業 | じぎょう jigyou | business; enterprise; venture |
| 営業 | えいぎょう eigyou | business; trade; operations |
See also: Chinese symbol for “occupation”.
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.