禁錮

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 禁錮 is read as きんこ and is a legal noun for imprisonment without compulsory labor.
• Basic usage: Studying the type of penalty appears in 禁錮という刑罰, while a sentence imposed on a defendant appears in 被告に禁錮が言い渡される.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Legal and period-drama term
  • It does not mean confinement in general but identifies a particular penalty in legal study or a courtroom drama set in an earlier period.
• Difference from 刑罰
  • 刑罰 broadly denotes a punishment imposed by law, while 禁錮 specifies imprisonment without compulsory labor.