錠 means “lock, tablet”

じょう · jou

Also: fetters, shackles

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ジョウ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 16 strokes

The story

Metal (金) that fixes (定) a door in place: a lock. 施錠 is locking up, 手錠 are handcuffs, and 錠 also counts tablets, so a pill packet reads 1回2錠, two tablets per dose.

Used in 施錠 (sejou, locking), 手錠 (tejou, handcuffs), and 錠剤 (jouzai, tablet)

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