4th note in the ancient Chinese pentatonic scale 五音[wu3 yin1], corresp
Originally written as 𱖔, which depicts a knife with tooth-shaped decorations on the back. The components 彳 (walk) and 攵 (tap) were added later to indicate movement and action. Based on the original meaning "to punish". The meaning later shifted to "invade", "to summon" and "to recruit" while its other meaning used as a musical note is a phonetic loan.
《說文》：“徵，召也。从微省，壬為徵，行於微而文達者即徵之。，古文徵。”
to punish