Chinese character 达

Read the whole word: 达’s meaning depends on its neighbors. In 达成, it concerns achieving something; in 传达, it concerns getting information across. Translating every occurrence as “arrive” would turn a message about expressing an idea into a travel report.

Why does 达 look different from 達?

达 is simplified Chinese; 達 is its traditional counterpart. Match the surrounding writing: 到达 in simplified text, 到達 in traditional text.

Japanese also uses 達 as a group or plural ending, as in 私達, “we.” That grammatical use does not apply to Chinese 达.

Its history reaches back to ancient Chinese writing

Ancestors of 達 appear in Western Zhou bronze inscriptions—writing on bronze objects from ancient China. The character evolved within Chinese writing; it is not a modern picture of success.

The Shuowen, an early Chinese dictionary, explains 達 through a movement-related component and a component indicating sound. It also records a variant containing 大. These older analyses concern the character’s history, not a recipe for translating modern 达.