As I mentioned, it might look as if 企 combines “person” (人) and “to stop” (止), which brings to mind the film To Catch a Thief.
Although 人 does mean “person” here, 止 actually means “foot.” It also acts phonetically to express “precarious.” So 企 originally meant “person of precarious footing,” which meant a person standing on tiptoe. It still means that in Chinese and … aha! I’ve stumbled onto my favorite Chinese compound (out of the three or so I happen to know). It’s one my drycleaner taught me:
企鹅 (qǐé: penguin) to stand on tiptoe + goose
A penguin is a goose standing on tiptoe! Cute, right?! I never cease to feel charmed by that. But right now I’m feeling more alarmed than charmed. I realize that I bookmarked my electronic Chinese dictionary page on this very word, which means that every time I’ve clicked on this dictionary (at least 50 times?), I’ve seen 企. And yet when I saw it in the context of 大企業, I didn’t feel the slightest bit of recognition. Not even a flicker. Not a smidgen. Nothing. Maybe it’s just too hard to make the mental leap between penguins and large corporations.
Anyway, back to the etymology, and sorry for the digression. The original meaning of 企 as “to stand on tiptoe” led to a range of associated meanings, such as “to stand erect, look out, be alarmed.” That’s still true in Chinese. But in Japanese, the evolution continued. The idea of “standing up in some alarm” led to “take action,” which then led to “undertake” and “plan.”
