rare, hope

希 is composed of a variant of 爻 (lines on a trigram) and 巾 (cloth). 爻 represents the diagonal patterns on fabric, showing that the warp and weft threads are interwoven in a crisscross manner. This weaving method makes the cloth appear highly lustrous and richly layered. Therefore, the original meaning of 希 is a type of high-grade fabric, but this sense was later taken over by the character 絺. High-grade fabric was a rare item in ancient times, and everyone longed to possess it. From this, 希 came to mean to desire or to long for.