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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

志

zhì
will; determination; aspiration; ambition
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 3
  • radical 心
  • 7 strokes

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Origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *tjɯs): phonetic 之 (OC *tjɯ) + semantic 心.

Note that the top has been simplified and is now graphically 士.

From 之 (OC *tjɯ, “to go; to proceed”) + endopassive suffix *-s, literally “what is being proceeded to” (Schuessler, 2007).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • simplified fromChinese誌 “records, annals”
    • meaningChinese言 “to say; to speak; to talk”
  • soundChinese之 “to go”
    • ideaChinese止 “foot”
    • ideaChinese一 “one”
  • meaningChinese心 “heart (Classifier: 顆／颗 m; 個／个 c; 粒 mn)”

Words built on it: 意志

Meanings

character
  1. will; determination; aspiration; ambition
  2. a surname

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

志：意也。从心之聲。

Xu Shen, c. 100 CE — the first analytical dictionary of Chinese characters.

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 意向、抱負。 例：意志、志同道合
  2. 立定意向。 例：吾十有五而志於學。（《論語．為政》）
  3. 記載、記錄。通「誌」。 例：志怪小說
  4. 記錄事物的書或文章。通「誌」。 例：府志、墓志、《三國志》
  5. 記住。通「誌」。 例：永志不忘

© Ministry of Education, Taiwan — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW, shown unaltered.

How 志 was written 字形演變

  1. 志 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  2. 志 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  3. 志 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  4. 志 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  5. 志 in Regular script
    Regular
    楷書
    since c. 200 CE

Historical forms collected by the legacy etymfun dataset; most characters have several attested variants.

Sources

  • Historical glyph forms (zdic.net 字形演变) — Rights unverified
  • HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • 說文解字 Shuowen Jiezi (Xu Shen, c. 100 CE) — Public domain
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 志