企

企 is a compound ideograph, made up of:

人 (인) – a person (depicting the human figure standing upright)

止 (지) – a foot (depicting the movement or stance of the foot)

In oracle bone script (甲骨文 jiǎgǔwén), 企 was drawn as a standing person with an emphasis on the foot, illustrating someone lifting up on tiptoe to look far into the distance.

Originally, it meant “to stand on tiptoe to look far away.”

Over time, the meaning expanded:

발돋움하다 – to stand on tiptoe

바라다 – to hope, to look forward to something

꾀하다 / 기도하다 – to plan or to scheme

企 evolved from a pictorial idea of “standing tall to see ahead” into a metaphor for planning, hoping, or striving toward a goal.

기업(企業) – enterprise, company (literally “a planned endeavor”)

기획(企劃) – planning, project design

기망(企望) – aspiration, expectation