Chinese Character Wiki
志

zhì

purpose, will

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

Components
士 sound component

士  Sound component

shì

  

scholar, soldier

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

心 meaning component

心  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

志  

zhì

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

志 (誌) 

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

志

sign

Component uses

Meaning component in 1 character (0 verified)

痣

Sound component in 2 characters (1 verified)

誌 痣

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

志

Traditional

志誌

Unicode

U+5FD7

Shuowen

“志，意也。从心，之聲。”


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