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
Evolution

Oracle script
(~1250-1000 BC)
Bronze script
Early Western Zhou (~1000 BC)
Seal script
Shuowen (~100 AD)
Clerical script
Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)Regular script
ModernMost common words with 執
Freq. | Word | Meaning |
---|---|---|
to implement | ||
to enforce a law | ||
license | ||
to dispute | ||
to grasp |
Component uses
Meaning component in 1 character (0 verified)
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 | |
Unicode | U+57F7 |
Shuowen | “執,捕罪人也。从丮,从,亦聲。” |
Sources
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