布告
ふこく · fukoku · JLPT N1 · noun
edict
📜📢 布 spread + 告 announce: an official notice spread out to tell everyone
布 (spread, cloth) and 告 (announce, tell) together: a formal ruling made public. The same 告 appears in 広告 (advertisement), another public notice.
布 — hand 手 (as 𠂇) + cloth 巾
Originally a pictograph of woven cloth held in a hand, combining a hand element (𠂇) with 巾 'cloth/towel'. The core meaning 'cloth' was extended to 'spread out, display' (as cloth is unfurled), giving modern senses like 'announce' and 'arrange'.
告 — ox 牛 (top) + mouth 口
Originally a pictograph showing an ox with something on its head, possibly a yoke or sacrificial marker, combined with 口 (mouth) to suggest announcing or reporting. The character came to mean 'to tell' or 'to announce,' as in making a formal declaration. Today it commonly appears in words like 告诉 (to tell) and 报告 (report).