懲役

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 懲役 is read ちょうえき. It means imprisonment or a prison sentence as a legal punishment.
• Basic usage: It appears in a law lesson about punishment and in a court sentencing a culprit in a novel.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• A type of punishment
  • 懲役という刑の歴史 refers to the history of imprisonment as a form of punishment.
• Receiving a sentence
  • 裁判で懲役を言い渡された means being sentenced to imprisonment at trial.