員 means “member, staff”

いん · in

Also: employee, number, the one in charge

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

イン

JLPT N4 · Taught in grade 3 · 10 strokes

The story

A round cauldron and a mouth to feed: one head counted in the company stores. Modern Japan runs on its 員: 会社員 office workers, 店員 shop staff, 駅員 station attendants, each one counted in.

Used in 会社員 (kaishain, company employee), 店員 (ten'in, shop clerk), and 全員 (zen'in, all members)

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

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