僚 means “colleague, official”

りょう · ryou

Also: companion

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

リョウ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 14 strokes

The story

A person (亻) beside 尞, an old sign for a bonfire: picture officials gathered round the same fire on the night shift. 僚 is someone you work beside: 同僚 is a coworker, and 官僚, the career bureaucrats of Kasumigaseki, staff Japan's ministries.

Used in 同僚 (douryou, coworker), 官僚 (kanryou, bureaucrat), and 閣僚 (kakuryou, cabinet minister)

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Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.