公安局
gōng ān jú · HSK 7
public security bureau (government office similar in function to a police station)
🚓 公 public + 安 safety/peace + 局 bureau/office
Compound decomposition: 公 (gōng, public) + 安 (ān, peace/security) + 局 (jú, bureau). Literally public-peace-bureau. 安 itself is 宀 (roof) over 女 (woman) — peace at home.
公 — eight 八 + private 厶
Originally an ideograph showing 八 (to divide) over 厶 (private/self), depicting the act of splitting away from selfish interest. The combination came to mean 'public' or 'fair,' the opposite of private. It later extended to senses like 'duke,' 'lord,' and 'grandfather.'
安 — roof 宀 + woman 女
A pictographic compound showing a woman 女 under a roof 宀, suggesting safety and tranquility at home. The original meaning 'peaceful, calm, safe' has remained stable since oracle bone script. It later extended to verbs like 'to settle' or 'to install'.
局 — 尸 (body/shelter) + 句 (phrase, phonetic)
局 originally depicted a confined space marked off by a boundary, with 尸 suggesting an enclosed shelter and 句 hinting at the sound. From 'enclosed area' it extended to mean a chessboard square, then a defined situation, office, or bureau. Modern senses like 'department' and 'situation' grew from this idea of a bounded scope.