祉

zhǐ

止 + 礻

Definitions

zhǐ felicity

Etymology

Phonosemantic compound. 礻 represents the meaning and 止 represents the sound.

Semantic: 礻 Phonetic: 止

About

祉 is a phonosemantic compound: 礻, the spirit/altar radical, indicates a divine or ritual context, and 止 gives the sound zhǐ. In classical Chinese it signified happiness, blessings, or good fortune bestowed by heaven or spirits, a sense of divine favor that has persisted. Today the character is highly literary and rarely used independently; it appears mostly in formal contexts or in the compound 福祉 (fúzhǐ), meaning the material and spiritual well-being of a people.