‘企望’ is a formal or literary verb meaning ‘to look forward to’ or ‘to hope for’ something, often with earnestness or longing. The character 企 (qǐ) originally meant ‘to stand on tiptoe’—evoking the image of someone stretching upward in anticipation—while 望 (wàng) means ‘to look’ or ‘to gaze’. Together, they form a vivid compound suggesting hopeful, upward-looking expectation, usually toward a future outcome that feels somewhat distant or aspirational.

This word carries a tone of quiet yearning or dignified aspiration—it’s less casual than 希望 (xīwàng) and more restrained than 渴望 (kěwàng). It appears frequently in written Chinese: essays, literature, formal speeches, and news reports—especially when describing collective hopes (e.g., national development) or personal long-term goals. While grammatically it functions like a transitive verb, it’s rarely used in everyday spoken conversation among young people; instead, it conveys solemnity, maturity, or poetic nuance.