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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

持之以恆

/ʈ͡ʂʰɻ̩³⁵ ʈ͡ʂɻ̩⁵⁵ i²¹⁴⁻²¹ xɤŋ³⁵/
to persevere
  • 持之以恒
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Etymology graph

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The phrase describes the steadfast determination of a heart that continues a journey without wavering.
The phrase describes the steadfast determination of a heart that continues a journey without wavering.

Origin

The phrase is composed of four characters. The character 持 means to hold or grasp; it is formed with the semantic component 手 (hand) and the phonetic component 寺 (government court; office). The character 之 means to go, containing the components 止 (foot) and 一 (one). The character 以 serves as a preposition expressing a boundary in time, orientation, or direction.

The final character, 恆, means lasting or constant. It is formed with the semantic component 心 (heart) and the phonetic component 亙 (to extend all the way; to stretch). The component 亙 is itself composed of 二 (two) and 月 (moon).

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

這個成語由四個漢字組成。其中「持」字包含表示意義的「手」部，以及表示聲音的「寺」部；而「寺」字則由「又」與「之」組成，其中「之」在「寺」中作為聲音成分。

「之」字由「止」與「一」組成；「以」字作為介詞，用來表示時間、方向或界限；「恆」字則由表示意義的「心」部與表示聲音的「亙」部組成；「亙」字則包含「二」與「月」兩個成分。

在字義構成上，「持」字的意思是握住或抓取，「之」字的意思是行走，「恆」字則代表持久或恆常。

Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

Lineage

  • characterChinese持 “to hold; to grasp”
    • meaningChinese手 “hand (Classifier: 隻／只 m c mn; 雙／双 m mn; 對／对 c)”
    • soundChinese寺 “government court; office (before the Han dynasty)”
      • meaningChinese又 “again; once more”
  • characterChinese之 “to go”
    • ideaChinese止 “foot”
    • ideaChinese一 “one”
  • characterChinese以 “a preposition that expresses a boundary in time, orientation, direction or quantity”
  • characterChinese恆 “lasting; constant”
    • meaningChinese心 “heart (Classifier: 顆／颗 m; 個／个 c; 粒 mn)”
    • soundChinese亙 “to extend all the way; to stretch”
      • ideaChinese二 “two”
      • ideaChinese月 “moon (Classifier: 輪／轮 m)”
Wiktionary etymology text

No etymology text yet. The graph shows what is known from the sources.

Meanings

phrase
  1. to persevere

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 有恆心的堅持到底。 例：做學問要持之以恆，不可半途而廢。

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

Sources

  • etymagent (local gemma4:26b) — Generated
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0