trade; business; occupation; profession; job
Refers to one's regular work or means of earning a living, often with a nuance of a trade or calling. Slightly formal and somewhat old-fashioned; 仕事 is more common in everyday speech.
His trade is carpentry.
I intend to take over the family business and continue this trade.
He has made the pottery craft passed down through generations his trade.
He runs a small fishing trade.
He finally quit his shady line of work for good.
職業 is a neutral, official term for occupation used on forms and in formal contexts, whereas 稼業 emphasizes the trade or calling by which one earns a living.
生業 is a literary word for one's means of livelihood, close in nuance to 稼業 but even more formal and often used in written or poetic contexts.
稼業 often refers to a family's or one's own trade as a means of livelihood, sharing 商売's colloquial 'line of work' sense but sounding slightly more old-fashioned.
家業 (same reading as 稼業) means a family-run business handed down through generations, while 稼業 refers more broadly to one's own personal trade or occupation.
Compound of 稼 (ka, 'earning') + 業 (gyō, 'work, profession'). The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but the spelling is conventionally associated with the meaning of a trade or occupation for earning a living.