Meaning & readings

dispose, manage, deal with, sentence, condemn, act, behave, place

On’yomi ショ
Kun’yomi ところ、-こ、お.る

Origin

This character combines two components suggesting place or position. The lower part, 几, is a simple frame representing a place or location. The upper part, 夂, depicts a foot or the idea of movement and action within space. Together, these elements create the sense of "where something is handled or dealt with" — a place of action or management. Over time, this evolved into the broader meanings of disposing of things, managing situations, and even passing judgment or sentence on someone.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).

5 strokes

Components

  • radical bottom-left wrap
  • radical nyoc

Common words

  • 処遇 しょぐう treatment (of a person); dealing with
  • 処刑 しょけい execution
  • 処女 しょじょ virgin (usu. female); maiden
  • 処置 しょち measure; step
  • 処罰 しょばつ punishment; penalty
  • 処分 しょぶん disposal; throwing away
  • 処方 しょほう prescription (of medicine); formula
  • 処理 しょり processing; dealing with

Reference

Strokes
5
Kangxi radical
16
Grade
Grade 6 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#547 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+051E6