致

1. Transit and Delivery: To send, deliver, or present. Specifically implies that the object reaches its intended mark or recipient (e.g., presenting a gift to a superior).

2. Causality: To cause, lead to, or bring about. Focuses on the outcome or the trajectory toward a result.

3. Attainment and Intensity: To push to an extreme, concentrate, or fully realize. This includes refining details to make something "exquisite," or extending a latent quality (such as sincerity or knowledge) until it is fully manifest.

Almost exclusively transitive; requires an object such as a physical item, a person being addressed, or a triggered state of affairs.

• vs. 送: While both involve sending, 致 emphasizes the successful arrival at the destination/recipient.
• vs. 使: Whereas 使 emphasizes agency, mandate, or the act of making someone do something, 致 focuses on the resulting state and the "driving" of events toward a conclusion.
• vs. 至: The distinction is strictly "arrive" (至) versus "make arrive/cause to reach" (致).

Tang-period reading: *djì.

Composed of 至 (arrive/reach) and 攵 (action/compulsion), suggesting the sense of "making something arrive."

To determine the correct sense, identify the nature of the "arrival":

• If the target is a place or person → Deliver / Present.
• If the target is a consequence or state → Cause / Lead to.
• If the target is a degree of quality or potential → Realize / Refine / Extend.