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交番{こうばん}, meaning "police box," is listed as both a noun and a する-verb in
[JMdictDB](http://www.edrdg.org/jmdictdb/cgi-
bin/entr.py?svc=jmdict&sid=&e=1916716). I'm curious as to what「交番する」would
mean. Literal translation doesn't make any sense to me, and I can't find any
example sentences with this usage. Is it something along the lines of "to
police"? Or does it have another meaning?
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2016-08-19T22:40:46.873
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meaning verbs
Using 交番 as a する-verb
デジタル大辞泉, a monolingual dictionary, [also says 交番 can be used as a suru-
verb](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/74788/meaning/m0u/):

> こう‐ばん〔カウ‐〕【交番】  
>  ［名］ **(スル)**  
>  １ 交替で番に当たること。また、役割・位置などが入れ替わること。「世代―」

But when you click the [例文
tab](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/jn/74788/example/m0u/%E4%BA%A4%E7%95%AA/),
you can see there is no real example of 交番する in the list, so it must be (and
have been) rare.

Personally, I haven't heard or seen 交番する, either. But I found
[憲兵条例](https://books.google.co.jp/books?id=E5X8jFd0ji4C&lpg=PA181&ots=tXtb6XLLBi&dq=%22%E4%BA%A4%E7%95%AA%E3%81%97%E3%81%A6%22&hl=ja&pg=PA181#v=onepage&q&f=false)
which took effect in 1881 uses 交番する like this:

> 第6条 憲兵の常務を分つて二種とす 昼夜 **交番して** 非違を視察するを巡察とし臨時に探偵逮捕する為めに派遣するを検察とす

And apparently this 交番する means the same as 交替する. This more or less aligns with
the usage of 交番する in physics, where it means "(for an electric current,
magnetic field, etc) to switch direction periodically":

>
> 電磁調理器では、インバータにより商用電力から変換して得た数十kHzの交流電流を、電磁調理器の天板の内部に近接して配置されたコイル（通常は視認できない）に流し、その電流と同じ周波数で
> **交番する** 磁束を生成する。 (from [電磁調理器 on
> Wikipedia](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%9B%BB%E7%A3%81%E8%AA%BF%E7%90%86%E5%99%A8))
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answer
According to wikipedia:  
The name kōban derives from the name of the earliest structure built in 1874,
which were indeed simple boxes meant for standing watch (立番 tachiban) in
rotation (交替 kōtai), thus creating a compound word consisting of kō (交) and
ban (番).  
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8Dban>

So the first kōbans were very similar to the British Royal guards, where the
policeman had to stay standing for several hours and then be replaced by
another policeman.  
The policemen would "rotate shifts", which is what 交番 literally means.  
<https://kathrynwarmstrong.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/changing-of-the-
guard.jpg>
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