counter for buildings (esp. houses)
Used to count houses, shops, and other buildings. Often follows a number or quantifier.
この通りには家が十軒並んでいる。
Ten houses line this street.
あの角に新しい店が一軒できた。
A new shop has opened on that corner.
suffix for pen names, stage names, etc.
Attached to a name to indicate a professional or artistic alias. Common in historical or literary contexts.
彼は「一葉」の軒号で知られている。
He is known by the pen name 'Ichiyō'.
There are three bookstores in this town.
The ukiyo-e artist used the name 'Utamaro'.
商店街には小さな店が軒を連ねている。
Small shops line up one after another along the shopping street.
軒 counts individual houses or shop fronts, while 棟 counts whole building structures such as apartment blocks or complexes.
軒 focuses on the physical building or shopfront being counted, whereas 戸 emphasizes the household or dwelling unit inside it.
軒 is the everyday counter for houses and small shops, while 棟 is used for larger or more formal buildings like apartment blocks.
軒 (けん) counts buildings, while 間 (けん) is a traditional unit of length (about 1.82m); they are unrelated homophones.
detached house; standalone house · isolated house; house in a remote location
one house; one building
several houses
house to house; door to door
number of houses
Standard kanji form for the counter/suffix.
Originally referred to the eaves of a building; extended to count houses and later to artistic names, possibly from the practice of displaying a nameplate under the eaves.
next door but one; two doors down