The kanji 就 primarily conveys the idea of "to take," "to engage in," "to follow," or "to arrive." It often implies the beginning of something, the undertaking of a task or role, or the reaching of a particular state or destination. It suggests a movement towards or an acceptance of a situation.

・On-yomi (音読み): シュウ (shū) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): つく (tsu-ku)

⚫︎就職 Translation: Getting a job; finding employment. ⚫︎就任 Translation: Taking office; assuming a position. ⚫︎就寝 Translation: Going to bed; retiring for the night.

The kanji 就 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, keisei moji). The left part of the character is the radical 尢 (yū), which means "lame" or "crippled" and is a pictograph of a person. The right part of the character is 京 (kyō), which means "capital" or "metropolis," and acts as the phonetic component, indicating the pronunciation. The character as a whole originally depicted a person approaching or arriving at a place. Over time, the meaning broadened to encompass "to take," "to engage in," and similar concepts related to entering a state or situation.