zhì

purpose, will

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound. In simplified Chinese is also used to mean "write down, record", while in traditional Chinese this meaning is written with a separate character .

Components
士 sound component

  Sound component

shì

  

scholar, soldier

Originally the sound component was /, but was later reanalyzed as , which also works as a sound component.

心 meaning component

  Meaning component

xīn

  

heart

Evolution

志 Bronze script Late Warring States (~250 BC)

Bronze script

Late Warring States (~250 BC)
志 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
志 Clerical script Western Jin dynasty (266-316 AD)

Clerical script

Western Jin dynasty (266-316 AD)
志 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

 

zhì

purpose, will, determination; annals; aspiration; ambition; the will

() 

zhì

write down; record; magazine; sign; mark; to record; to write a footnote

Most common words with 志
Freq.
Word
Meaning

同志

comrade

杂志

magazine

标志

sign

意志

will

sign

Component uses

Meaning component in 1 character (0 verified)

Sound component in 2 characters (1 verified)

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*tə-s

tsyiH

zhì

goal, intention, aspiration


Statistics

HSK level 3

Appears in 43.7290% of movies

812th most common character in movies

542nd most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

7

Simplified

Traditional

Unicode

U+5FD7

Shuowen

“志,意也。从心,之聲。”


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