死刑
しけい · shikei · JLPT N1 · noun
execution
⚖️ 死 = death, 刑 = punishment; a state-ordered end to life
The first character 死 means death and 刑 means punishment or penalty. Together they name the sentence of execution imposed by law.
死 — 歹 (bare bones) + 匕 (kneeling person)
Originally a pictograph showing a living person (匕) beside skeletal remains (歹), depicting someone mourning or kneeling next to a corpse. The combination came to mean 'death' or 'to die.' The 歹 component, derived from a bone fragment, signals the death-related meaning across many related characters.