俟

It means “wait for” or “wait until,” usually read sì in Mandarin. The Book of Odes, a Chinese poetry collection, has 俟我於城隅, “wait for me at the city wall’s corner.” The Shuowen dictionary glosses 竢 as “wait” but gives 俟 an older “large” sense; later texts used 俟 for waiting.

Why does 俟 read differently in 万俟?

万俟 is a surname read Mòqí. In it, 俟 is qí, with a rising Mandarin tone. The surname comes from a Xianbei group name in the Northern Wei period; the Xianbei were a historical people of northern China. Japanese also uses 俟 with the literary reading matsu (まつ), “wait.”