The Calligrapher — Wáng Xīzhī 王羲之

The 'Sage of Calligraphy'; his running script has set the standard for 1,700 years.

Eastern Jin calligrapher (303–361), master of running script/cursive script/regular script — the Sage of Calligraphy; his Orchid Pavilion Preface is the most celebrated work in the tradition, and nearly every later master traces lineage to his hand. Eastern Jin dynasty

Cultural Story

悃 is sincerity stripped of ornament. The 楚辭 and the memorials of the Han court used 悃 to describe a plain, unvarnished loyalty — 悃愊 is a heart with nothing folded inside it. Zhuge Liang's famous final petition to the throne is remembered as 鞠躬尽瘁，死而后已, and the spirit behind it is exactly this unshowy 悃.

Common words & phrases

• 悃忱 sincerity
• 诚悃 sincere · devoted
• 悃愊 sincere · honest

Read the story behind the character

悃 has all but vanished from speech. You find it only in the most formal thanks — a foundation's 诚悃 statement, a carved stone at a donated school. It is the word chosen when the writer wants to signal that no flourish is intended. Most young speakers would need a dictionary to tell you what it means.