Radical 士

7 strokes

scholar 士 (487a) + heart 心 (161) = intention 志

This also means “to record” or “a (written) record”.

同志 (160) tóngzhì comrade

[意志 (258) yìzhì (the human) will]

The scholar has set his heart on carrying out his latest project: “It’s my intention to record every species of orchid in the world.” / His assistant the dwarf (who thinks if he’s going to be dragged around, it might as well be in the sun) says, “Let’s start in Jamaica.”

“Tóngzhì” is rarely used nowadays as a form of address, although it used to be the most common form of address in China.

This character differs from “earth” (Character 54a) in that here the first (upper) horizontal stroke is longer than the second (lower) one.