旨

1. Sensory/Qualitative: Delicious, flavorful, or excellent.

2. Cognitive/Abstract: The gist, essence, point, or underlying purpose/aim of a statement or action.

3. Political/Legal: An imperial decree, edict, or command; the codified intent of the sovereign.

Functions as an adjective describing quality or as a noun referring to an abstract point or formal document. It rarely functions as a verb; it typically represents the result of intention rather than the act of intending.

In contexts of meaning, 旨 specifically denotes the core objective or distilled essence, distinguishing it from the broader notions of meaning covered by 意 (yì) or 義 (yì).

The standard reading is zhǐ. A Tang-period reading of jǐ is noted and may be relevant when consulting commentaries from that era.