入社
にゅうしゃ · nyuusha · JLPT N2 · noun
company
🏢 入 (enter) + 社 (company) = entry to a company: 入社 literally means 'enter the company'.
Read 入 as 'enter' and 社 as 'company' or 'firm'. Together they name the act of joining a company as a new employee, the start of working there.
入 — single pictograph, two slanting strokes
入 is a pictograph showing an arrowhead or pointed entrance, with two strokes converging downward to suggest something going inward. The original sense was 'to enter,' and it still carries that meaning today. It contrasts visually with 人 (person), where the strokes cross differently at the top.
社 — 示 (altar/spirit) + 土 (earth)
Originally referred to the god of the soil and the altar where villagers worshipped it. The 示 component signals ritual or spirits, while 土 means earth, together evoking a community shrine. The meaning later broadened to 'community' and 'society'.