件 means “matter, case”

けん · ken

Also: affair, item

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

くだん

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ケン

JLPT N3 · Taught in grade 5 · 6 strokes

The story

A person (亻) leading a cow (牛) to market: picture one piece of business to settle at a time. 件 is a matter or a case, from a police 事件 to the 件名, the subject line of every email, and it counts them too: 3件 is three items.

Used in 事件 (jiken, incident/case), 条件 (jouken, condition), and 件名 (kenmei, subject line)

More from At the Office

• 任 entrust
• 係 person in charge
• 局 bureau
• 職 job
• 役 role
• 備 prepare
• 席 seat
• 労 labor
• 号 number
• 具 tool
• 勤 work for
• 部 part

Learn 件 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.