誌
zhì

write down, record

Phonosemantic compound. 言 represents the meaning and 志 represents the sound.

Components

言
言 Meaning component
yán speech
志
志 Sound component
zhì purpose, will

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Jin 266-420 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsyiHtək-s record (n.?)

說文解字

《說文新附》:“誌,記誌也。从言,志聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

志 zhì purpose, will Simplified

Phonosemantic compound. 心 represents the meaning and 之 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

之
之 Sound component
zhī [attributive particle]

Later reanalyzed as 士, which also works as a sound component.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 之 than it was in ancient scripts.
心
心 Meaning component
xīn, xin heart

Character Evolution

Bronze form
Bronze Late Warring States ~250 BC
Seal form
Seal Warring States (Chu) 475-221 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Qin 221-206 BC
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Western Jin 266-316 AD
Regular Modern

Component uses

Sound (1 of 2 verified)

Meaning (0 of 1 verified)

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-SagarttsyiHtə-s goal, intention, aspiration

說文解字

《說文》:“志,意也。从心,之聲。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica

𰵧 zhì write down Simplified

No origin information available for this character yet.

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode