penal, chastise, punish, discipline
懲 centers on imposing corrective suffering for wrongdoing: penalizing, chastising, punishing, or disciplining someone to deter future misbehavior.
懲 combines 心 (heart/mind) with 徵, which likely contributes the sound and the idea of calling to account or summoning. Together they express disciplining the mind or heart.
The top part 徵 suggests summoning or calling to account, and the bottom 心 is the heart. Picture a stern judge summoning a guilty heart to face punishment and discipline.
For チョウ, imagine a strict chief named Chou who disciplines wrongdoers: Chou -> チョウ, and his punishments correct the heart.
penal servitude; imprisonment with hard labor (hard labour)
discipline; punishment; reprimand
to learn by experience; to learn one's lesson; to learn the hard way
discipline; punishment; reprimand
to chastise; to punish; to discipline
rewarding good and punishing evil; poetic justice
repenting; improving one's nature
having had enough (of); fed up (with); sick and tired (of)
without being discouraged by this (experience); without letting this put (you) off; without being held back by this
take it as a lesson learned; learn from this (mistake)
morality play
(Edo-period) didactic novel or fiction
rewarding good and punishing evil
incorrigible; dogged
not having learned one's lesson; never changing one's ways; doggedly; in spite of one's negative experiences
to punish the wicked
chastisement
to chastise; to punish; to discipline
(someone who) doesn't learn their lesson; obstinate
person (generally male) who won't learn their lesson; persistent jerk