细致
xìzhì · HSK 4
careful
🔍 细 = thin/fine + 致 = deliver/cause; fine-detailed delivery
细 means thin or fine (silk radical 糸 + a thin element), and 致 means to deliver or bring about. Together: bringing things about with fine detail — hence careful, meticulous, painstaking work.
细 — silk radical 糹 + 田 (field)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The silk radical 糹 supplies the meaning, since silk threads are fine and thin, giving 细 its sense of 'thin, fine, slender.' The right side 田 originally wrote 囟 (fontanel) as a phonetic hint, later simplified to 田 in modern script.
致 — arrive 至 + strike/go 攵
Originally a compound of 至 (to arrive, showing an arrow reaching the ground) and 攵 (a hand with a stick, indicating action). Together they suggested 'to cause to arrive' or 'to send/deliver,' which broadened into modern senses like 'to send, devote, or bring about.'