Nihongo

Classroom

What is the Kanji for "Government office"?

If you are wondering what is the Japanese Kanji for "Government office", you've come to the right place!

The Japanese Kanji for "Government office" is "署".

This kanji has 1 reading:

Its onyomi reading is "Sho".

kunyomi readings are based on the pronunciation of native Japanese words, and onyomi readings are based on the Chinese pronunciation of the character.

If you visually breakdown this kanji, you can see is made up of 2 parts:

The radical "罒" means "Net" . And The kanji "者" means "Someone" and can be read as "Sha" and "Mono".

Now, let's make sure you understand this kanji the other way around too.

What does the kanji "署" mean in japanese?

"署" means "Government office" .

Japanese School Students learn this kanji in Sixth Grade, while foreigners may learn this kanji in preparation for the JLPT N2 exam.

Here are some words that use this kanji:

消防署: "Fire station". The Japanese noun '消防署 (しょうぼうしょ)' refers to a fire station - a building or facility that houses firefighters and equipment used to respond to and extinguish fires. Fire stations are important public safety infrastructure in Japan, staffed by trained firefighters ready to quickly respond to emergencies. For example: The fire station is located down the street - (消防署は通りを下がったところにあります).
: "Office". The Japanese suffix '署 (しょ)' is used to indicate an office or administrative agency. It is commonly found in the names of government offices, police stations, and other official institutions. For example: 警察署 (けいさつしょ) - Police station, 税務署 (ぜいむしょ) - Tax office.
署名: "Signature". The Japanese noun '署名 (しょめい)' refers to a person's signature. It is used to officially identify or authorize a document, contract, or other written material. A signature is usually written by hand and serves as a unique identifier for the individual. For example: He signed the document with his signature - (彼は書類に署名した). I need to add my signature here - (ここに私の署名を記入する必要があります).

To make really sure you learn this Kanji, I've prepared an interactive lesson for you. You are going to learn the readings and meanings of this kanji.

But first, you need to know a little bit about Hiragana and Katakana.

Hiragana and katakana are japanese syllabaries, this means that each character represents a syllable.

This are the characters you need to know for this lesson:

The hiragana "し" is read as "shi"