食事
しょくじする · shokujisuru · JLPT N4 · noun
meal
🍱 食事 = eat (食) + matter/affair (事): the business of eating
食 (shoku) means eat or food, and 事 (ji) means matter or affair, so a meal is literally an eating-affair. Adding する (suru, to do) makes 食事する: to do an eating-affair, i.e. to have a meal.
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).