Chinese Character Wiki
執

zhí

hold in hand

Original meaning: 

seize

Pictograph of a person with hands (丮) bound by shackles (㚔). Based on the original meaning "seize". The meaning later shifted to "wield power", "carry out", and "hold".

Components
㚔 iconic component

㚔  Iconic component

niè

  

instrument of torture used in ancient times

Depicts shackles.

丮 iconic component

丮  Iconic component

jǐ

  

catch

Depicts a person with two hands outstretched.

Evolution

執 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
執 Bronze script Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)

Bronze script

Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)
執 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
執 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
執 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

执 (執) 

zhí

hold in hand; keep; carry out; to execute (a plan); to grasp

Most common words with 執
Freq.
Word
Meaning

执行

to implement

执法

to enforce a law

执照

license

争执

to dispute

执

to grasp

Component uses

Meaning component in 1 character (0 verified)

摯

Sound component in 5 characters (0 verified)

墊 摯 蟄 鷙 贄

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*[t]ip

tsyip

zhí

seize


Statistics

Not found in HSK word list

Appears in 35.2875% of movies

1094th most common character in movies

763rd most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

11

Simplified

执

Unicode

U+57F7

Shuowen

“執，捕罪人也。从丮，从，亦聲。”


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