拷 means “torture”

ごう · gou

Also: beat

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ゴウ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 9 strokes

The story

A hand (扌) beside 考, to think: picture an interrogator's hand hurting a prisoner until he thinks the way they want. 拷 lives in a single word, 拷問, torture, its two halves beating and questioning.

Used in 拷問 (goumon, torture)

More from Prisons & Penalties

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

Learn 拷 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

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