志

Bottom heart radical — pictograph of a heart with chambers and aorta. Anchors 志 in the mental-and-emotional family with 想 to think, 念 to miss, 思 to ponder, 忘 to forget. Together with the gentleman above, 志 reads as 'a scholar's heart' — the inner direction toward which a person commits themselves, hence 'aspiration, will, ambition.'

Top 士 — pictograph of an axe-head or, in some readings, a man standing tall. Means 'scholar, gentleman, knight.' Supplies the phonetic frame shì → zhì via initial alternation. Originally the top of 志 was 之 (zhī, 'go toward'), which has since been replaced by visually similar 士 — but the older 'aspiration directed forward' picture still informs the meaning.