Sinograph Addenda · Signs

矣

by-now

Nameby-now
Readsyǐ
Meansfinal particle: the state has arrived — 'now it is so'
Taught in08 · Already, and at last

Where it comes from

The arrow 矢 under an ancient top that lends the sound yǐ — the stated account. The particle closes a sentence with arrival: something has become so, the count is complete, the decade has turned. Where 也 lays a fact flat on the table, 矣 tells you the arrow has landed. Taught in the already chapter.

How to remember it

The arrow 矢 with a curl tied on top: flown, landed, knotted off — by now, it is so.

In the wild

Analects 2.11. urn:nabu:kanripo:KR1h0004:002:12a · license: attribution.