志 (zhì) is a Chinese character meaning “will”. It is written from 士 (scholar) and 心 (heart; mind), one above the other, and takes 7 strokes.
Build the character for “will; aspiration”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
士 + 心
Top–bottom structure
Structure from: Unicode U+5FD7, Unicode radical 61 (心), and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (strokes 0–2 form 士; strokes 3–6 form 心)
Memory aid
A scholar (士) standing over a heart (心): what your heart is set on is your will.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
7 strokes
In real words
- 杂志zá zhìmagazine; periodical志 = zhì
- 矢志shǐ zhìto vow; to pledge oneself to a goal志 = zhì
- 标志biāo zhìsign; mark; symbol志 = zhìHSK 5
Go deeper
All readings
will; aspiration
will; ambition; aspiration; also: to record, annals
意向、决心；也指记载、记录的文字。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 杂志zá zhìmagazine; periodical志 = zhì
- 矢志shǐ zhìto vow; to pledge oneself to a goal志 = zhì
- 标志biāo zhìsign; mark; symbol志 = zhìHSK 5
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 志 mean?
志 (zhì) means will; ambition; aspiration; also: to record, annals.
How do you pronounce 志?
It is pronounced zhì.
What parts is 志 made of?
士 (scholar) and 心 (heart; mind), one above the other. The recorded source is: Unicode U+5FD7, Unicode radical 61 (心), and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (strokes 0–2 form 士; strokes 3–6 form 心). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 志 have?
7. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 志?
心. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 志?
Common ones are 杂志 and 矢志. The reading of 志 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.