単身赴任

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 単身赴任 is read as たんしんふにん and is a noun and する verb for relocating alone for a work assignment while one's family remains elsewhere.
• Basic usage: Taking an assignment in another city appears in 遠い町へ単身赴任する, while the period of that arrangement appears in 単身赴任中.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Work and separation from family
  • It is not merely traveling alone; it presupposes relocation for work while the employee lives apart from family.
• Difference from 一人暮らし
  • 一人暮らし broadly means living alone for any reason, whereas 単身赴任 specifically results from a work assignment away from family.