The Meaning of jimu [事務] In Japanese

事務
じむ
Romaji: jimu N5

What does 事務 mean?

Translation and Meaning

office work, clerical work, administration

Definition

What does 事務 mean? It denotes the administrative and clerical work performed in an office to keep an organization running, including paperwork, records, scheduling, and routine operations.

Type

Noun (名詞)

Stroke Order

Meanings

1. Core activities involved in daily office administration and paperwork processing. 2. The organizational function responsible for these tasks, including handling correspondence, filing, and data entry. 3. A formal sense of managing official affairs within a company or government body.

Etymology

事 and 務 are Sino-Japanese characters; じむ is the on reading formed by combining the sounds of the two kanji, reflecting how matter (事) and duty (務) fuse into a single office oriented concept.

Composition

  • 事 — matter, affair
  • 務 — duty, task
  • Together they express handling matters through duties within an office context

Usage

Used in formal and semi formal contexts to refer to administrative tasks; appears as a noun and is often followed by particles such as を, の. Common constructions include 事務処理, 事務室, 事務的, and phrases like 事務を担当する.
💡 Tips
Visualize two kanji: 事 representing matters piling up and 務 as a duty stamping them into order; the phrase jimu then becomes the daily office responsibility you must perform.

Variations

  • オフィスワーク (ofisu wāku) — office work
  • 事務処理 (jimu shori) — processing of paperwork
  • 事務作業 (jimu sagyō) — clerical tasks
  • 庶務 (shomu) — general affairs

Example Phrases

  • 今日は会社の事務を手伝う予定だ。
    Kyou wa kaisha no jimu o tetsudau yotei da.
    I plan to help with the company’s office work today.
    Lista:
    • 今日は (kyou wa) – today
    • 会社の (kaisha no) – company’s
    • 事務 (jimu) – office work
    • を (o) – object marker
    • 手伝う (tetsudau) – to help
    • 予定 (yotei) – plan
    • だ (da) – is
    「事務」 is a noun meaning office work; here it functions as the object of を in 事務を手伝う.
事務