得志 (dé zhì) — to achieve one's ambitions; to have one's wishes fulfilled

Definition

Literary verb meaning to achieve one's ambitions or have one's wishes fulfilled. Most often seen in the negative form 不得志 ('unfulfilled, down on one's luck'), a common chengyu-style pairing.

verb
to achieve one's ambitionsto have one's wishes fulfilled

Examples

  • ,得志。
    Tā jīng guò duō nián nǔ lì, zhōng yú dé zhì le.
    After many years of hard work, he finally achieved his ambitions.
  • 。
    Zhè ge rén zài bù dé zhì de shí hou yì zhí hěn tā shi.
    This person was always down-to-earth when he was not fulfilling his ambitions.
  • ,。
    Tā gāng dé le zhì, jiù kāi shǐ kàn bù qǐ lǎo péng you le.
    As soon as he achieved his ambitions, he started looking down on his old friends.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

得déobtain
志zhìambition

得 is to obtain, and 志 is ambition: to obtain one's ambition.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

The old form 㝵 showed a hand picking up a cowry, meaning to obtain; later changes turned that picture into 得.

Open 得 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
Sound part声符shēngfú
之
之zhī志zhì
Same sound today

志 has 心, the heart, below and a simplified top from 之 for sound.

Open 志 →

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