The kanji 獄 represents "prison," "jail," or "hell." It signifies a place of confinement, punishment, or suffering, often associated with a place of detention for criminals or a realm of the afterlife where the wicked are punished. The character conveys the idea of being trapped or restrained.

・On-yomi (音読み): ゴク (goku) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): None, as the meaning is primarily expressed through the On-yomi.

⚫︎ 監獄 (かんごく) Translation: prison; jail. ⚫︎ 地獄 (じごく) Translation: hell. ⚫︎ 死刑囚 (しけいしゅう) が獄中にいる Translation: The death row inmate is in prison.

⚫︎ The kanji 獄 is a 形声文字 (keisei moji), a phono-semantic compound character. ⚫︎ The semantic component is 㓁 (which is a variant of 犬meaning "dog," and related to the idea of guarding or controlling) representing a barrier or enclosure, and the phonetic component is 言 (gen, meaning "words" or "speech") which provides the sound of the character. ⚫︎ Together, these components convey the idea of a place (enclosure) where people are punished based on the laws or judgment (words).