庁|ちょうchou[1]atamadaka (head-high)

1. noun, noun (suffix)government office; agency; board

• Synonym役所やくしょNeutralEveryday word for a government office you visit for paperwork, as in 「市役所」「区役所」; common in speech. 「庁」 is one kind of agency name, as in 「気象庁」「県庁」.
• Related役所やくしょNeutralEveryday word for a government office you visit for paperwork, as in 「市役所」「区役所」; common in speech. 「庁」 is one kind of agency name, as in 「気象庁」「県庁」.
• Related官府かんぷWrittenWritten word for government offices or the imperial court, mostly in historical contexts; rare today.
• Related政府機関せいふきかんNeutralGeneral term for government bodies and agencies, common in news reports; it doesn't single out any particular level of government.
• Related行政官庁ぎょうせいかんちょうFormalFormal term for administrative agencies, found mainly in legal texts.
• Related官衙かんがWrittenWritten word for government offices, used mainly in historical and archaeological contexts, as in 「古代の官衙遺跡」.

Use 「庁」 in agency names like 「金融庁」「県庁」「警視庁」. For the office where you do paperwork, say 「役所」; as a general term, 「政府機関」; in legal texts, 「行政官庁」. 「官府」 and 「官衙」 are rare written words for historical contexts.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

1. （接尾辞せつびじ的てき）国くにの行政ぎょうせい機関きかんの一ひとつ。府ふまたは省しょうの外局がいきょくまたは特別とくべつの機関きかんとして置おかれる。