taru-adjective, adverb taking the 'to' particle
Archaic literary word describing a bleak, empty, and lonely atmosphere, often of a landscape or scene. Used in classical Japanese and occasionally in modern literary or poetic contexts.
I walked alone across the desolate winter field.
The area around the old temple was lonely and barren, with no sign of people.
The exact derivation is uncertain. The kanji 蕭 (しょう) means 'desolate' or 'lonely', and 寥 (りょう) means 'lonely' or 'empty'. The compound is a classical Chinese borrowing used in literary Japanese.