🌏 Region(s): Honshu (Standard)
こうばん【交番】 : kouban | define meaning
kouban
Definition
Noun
- (Small) neighbourhood police station; community police station; local police station; police substation; (Singapore) neighbourhood police post; (Japan) kōban, police box (PB)
- わだやまえきまえこうばん【和田山駅前交番】
wadayama eki mae kouban
"Local police station in front of Wadayama station"
- わだやまえきまえこうばん【和田山駅前交番】
- Alternating; alternation
- こうばんでんかい【交番電界】
kouban denkai
"Alternating electric fields" - こうばんでんりゅう【交番電流】
kouban denryuu
"Alternating current"
- こうばんでんかい【交番電界】
Etymology
(1) The earliest local police stations built in 1874 were designed for standing watch (たちばん【立番】 tachiban) and meant to be manned in rotation (こうたい【交替】 koutai). These two words gave way to the compounds こうばん【交番】 kouban as well as こうばんしょ【交番所】 koubansho, which integrates the suffix しょ【所】 sho "place; site".
(2) The meaning of "alternation; alternating" stems from the meanings of the individual components: こう【交】 kou "alternate" and ばん【番】 ban "turn".
Notes
The term is sometimes translated as "police box", alluding to the small box shape of these stations and to the fact that they were historically much smaller than they are today. However, the modern Japanese concept of kōban is now quite different from that of the British police box.
意味：こうばん【交番】、こうばんしょ【交番所】、はしゅつじょ【派出所】