希

Ideogrammic compound:

爻 (yáo, interwoven lines) — representing embroidery or patterned weaving.

巾 (cloth, towel) — representing a piece of cloth.

Together: embroidered cloth, which was precious and rare. From the idea of rarity and preciousness came the extended meanings of “to long for, to hope for” and “rare, scarce.”

Later, the sense of “rare” was more precisely written with 稀, leaving 希 primarily with the meaning “hope, desire.”

Semantic range:

- to wish, to hope, to long for;

- aspiration, desire;

- rare, scarce (esp. in older texts);

희망 (希望) — hope

희귀 (稀貴/希貴) — rare, precious

희소 (稀少/希少) — scarce, uncommon

희망차다 (希望하다) — to be full of hope

희구 (希求) — to yearn, to seek

As an abbreviation: denotes Greece (希臘, 희랍)