署 (shǔ): government office

Meanings

1 government office
2 bureau
3 to sign
4 to arrange

Characters

署

shǔ

office; bureau; to sign

Examples

他在公安署工作。

Tā zài gōng'ān shǔ gōngzuò.

He works at the public security bureau.

请在文件上署名。

Qǐng zài wénjiàn shàng shǔmíng.

Please sign the document.

Tips

usage

As a noun, 署 means a government office (公安署, 海关署). As a verb, 署 means to sign (署名 = to sign one's name).

Components

radical

罒 wǎng

net (top form)

罒 is the net radical (Kangxi #122 网) in flattened top-form, originally a picture of meshed cords. Indexes 署 in the net-family alongside 罗 net, 罪 crime (caught in the net), 罚 punishment, 置 to place. The net-of-rules image fits 署 'office, bureau' — an administration that catches and processes business.

phonetic

者 zhě

one who; person (here phonetic)

Bottom 者 supplies the sound — zhě → shǔ via the well-attested zh/sh palatal alternation. 者 itself originally pictured sugarcane being burned (土 ground + a fire-stack on top); only later was it grammaticalised into the agentive 'one who.' Same phonetic series gives 都 dū (capital), 暑 shǔ (heat), 煮 zhǔ (boil), 著 zhù (book/notable).