役所
やくしょ · yakusho · JLPT N2 · noun
government office
🏛️ 役 (duty) + 所 (place) = a place where public duties are carried out: a government office
役 means duty or public service, and 所 means place or office. Together they name the place where government duties are handled.
所 — door 戶 (left) + axe 斤 (right)
Originally a sound: an axe (斤) chopping wood near a door (戶), with 戶 also hinting at the pronunciation. Over time it was borrowed to mean 'place' or 'location,' and later became a grammatical particle nominalizing verbs ('that which…'). The concrete 'chopping' sense faded entirely.