刑 means “penalty, punishment”

けい · kei

Also: punish, sentence

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ケイ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 6 strokes

The story

A frame (开) and a blade (刂): picture the stocks and the sword of old punishments. 刑 is a legal penalty: 死刑 is the death penalty, 刑務所 is prison, and the 刑事, the detective of every Japanese TV drama, handles criminal cases.

Used in 刑事 (keiji, detective), 刑務所 (keimusho, prison), and 死刑 (shikei, death penalty)

More from Prisons & Penalties

• 罰 punishment
• 懲 punish
• 拘 detain
• 獄 prison
• 偵 spy
• 拷 torture
• 囚 prisoner
• 錮 confinement
• 勾 bend
• 逮 arrest

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