炊事
すいじ · suiji · JLPT N2 · noun
cooking
🍳 炊 (sui) = cook by fire; 事 (ji) = affair, matter: the affair of cooking
炊 means cooking rice or food over a fire, and 事 means matter or affair. Together, 炊事 is the affair of preparing meals.
事 — hand 又 holding a banner/tablet on a pole
Originally a pictograph of a hand (又) grasping a pole or ceremonial banner used by an official, depicting the act of conducting court business. From this it came to mean 'affair, matter, business, service.' It shares an ancient origin with 史 (scribe) and 吏 (official).