Sinograph Addenda · Signs

stop

Name	stop
Reads	zhǐ
Means	to stop, to stay; where one rests
Taught in	08 · Stopping at true

Where it comes from

A footprint — toes and heel — the foot at rest. “To stop,” and in the classics also “where one comes to rest”: one’s proper place. Seeds 正 and, through it, 是. Taught in the stopping-at-true chapter.

How to remember it

One footprint, going nowhere: stop. The classics make an ethics of it — knowing where to stop is half of wisdom.

In the wild

知止而后有定。zhī zhǐ ér hòu yǒu dìng"know where to stop, and then there is steadiness" — the Great Learning's staircase begins on this foot

The Great Learning (Daxue), in a Song commentary edition. urn:nabu:kanripo:KR1h0059:001:1b · license: attribution.