獄 means “prison, hell”

ごく · goku

Also: jail

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ゴク

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 14 strokes

The story

Two dogs (犭 and 犬) snarling on either side of words (言): picture guard dogs flanking a prisoner as he pleads. 獄 is prison: 監獄 is a jail, 脱獄 a jailbreak, and 地獄, the prison under the earth, is hell.

Used in 地獄 (jigoku, hell), 監獄 (kangoku, prison), and 脱獄 (datsugoku, jailbreak)

More from Prisons & Penalties

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

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