Yin Collection, Upper Volume Radical: Child (zǐ) Page 278, Entry 10 Pronounced zi Shuowen Jiezi (Shuowen) defines this as working with diligent effort. Another definition is to exert oneself with sincere affection and diligence. Book of Documents (Shangshu), Chapter of Yiji: I think of this day by day with diligence. Also, Book of Documents (Shangshu), Chapter of Junshi: Only by being diligent day by day, without daring to be idle or indulgent. In the classics and commentaries, it is often written in the variant form zi (zī).