Meaning
each other; one another; mutually; appearance; portrait; picture
Chinese: 互相、相貌，也可表示观察。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “xiang” becomes a different word in each tone. 相 is the 1st tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 相信xiāng xìnto believe; to be convinced; to accept as true
- 相同xiāng tóngidentical; same
- 相机xiàng jīcamera; at the opportune moment; as the circumstances allow
- 照相zhào xiàngto take a photograph
- 相当xiāng dāngequivalent to; appropriate; considerably; to a certain extent
Example Sentence
这两个词的意思很相近。Zhè liǎng ge cí de yì si hěn xiāng jìn.The meanings of these two words are very similar.
这Zhèthis两liǎngtwo个ge(measure word)词cíword的deof意思yì siidea很hěnvery相近xiāng jìnclose。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
木 (tree) plus 目 (eye): to look closely at a tree, eye to object — ‘mutually, each other’ (xiāng: 互相); ‘appearance, look; to assist; a chief minister’ (xiàng: 相片, 首相).
A way to remember it
xiāng = mutual / each other; xiàng = appearance / minister.