営業
Meaning in Englishbusiness, sales, operation
Animated kanji stroke order
Word context
What it means
What does 営業 mean? It denotes the activities of selling products or services and the overall function of bringing goods to customers; the term covers both the practice of sales and the broader business operations within a company.
Main meanings
- the primary sense is organized commercial activity, including selling, client outreach, and deal-making
- the department or role within a company responsible for sales and customer relations
- the broader concept of business operations and economic activity in a corporate context
How to use it
In formal business writing and signage, 営業 appears in phrases such as 営業をする, 営業部, and 営業時間; it is used for both the act of selling and as a label for the sales function within an organization.
Variants and close terms
- 販売活動 (hanbai katsudō) — sales activity
- 商売 (shōbai) — commerce, business
- 営業活動 (eigyō katsudō) — sales operations
- 事業運営 (jigyōunei) — business management/operations
Composition
- 営: to operate, to govern; conveys the sense of managing or directing business activities
- 業: work, business, industry; denotes the domain of activity or enterprise
Etymology
eigyō is the on'yomi reading of 営 and 業, forming a Sino-Japanese compound used to denote organized commercial activity; the phonetic form reflects standard kanji readings in Japanese.
Origin
During the Edo and Meiji periods, the term entered Japanese commercial vocabulary as a descriptor for organized business activity and later for modern corporate sales and operations.
Word class
noun (名詞)