举止
jǔ zhǐ · HSK 7
manner
🚶 举 raise + 止 stop = how you raise and halt your movements: your bearing and manner
举 means to raise or lift, 止 means to stop or halt. Together they cover the full range of how someone carries themselves in motion and at rest, hence bearing, manner, or mien.
举 — hands 𠆢 + give 与 (simplified from 擧)
Originally written 擧, showing hands (手) lifting something together with the phonetic 與 'together'. The simplified form 举 keeps the idea of many hands raising up. Core meaning 'to lift, raise' extended to 'to launch, propose, hold (an event)'.
止 — pictograph of a foot/toe
止 originally depicted a human foot with toes, shown as a footprint on the ground. From this concrete image of a foot it came to mean 'to stop' or 'halt' — the place where a step ends. It also serves as a component in many characters relating to feet, walking, or stopping, such as 步 and 正.