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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

像

xiàng
picture; image; photograph; figure
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 10
  • TOCFL 2
  • radical 人
  • 14 strokes

Etymology graph

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  • borrowed
  • derived
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  • meaning component
  • sound component
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Origin

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *ljaŋʔ): semantic 亻 (“person”) + phonetic 象 (OC *ljaŋʔ).

Traditionally thought to be the same word as Old Chinese 象 (*ljaŋʔ, “elephant”) (Han Feizihttps://ctext.org/hanfeizi/jie-lao#n2005, Karlgren, 1957).

Schuessler (2007) posits that Old Chinese *z- and *s-l- / *s-j- might have merged in Zuo Zhuan and thinks Old Chinese 像 (*ljaŋʔ, “image”) possibly derives from Sino-Tibetan root *la, making it cognate with Tibetan ལད་མོ (lad mo, “imitation, to imitate, mimic”) & ལྷ (lha, “gods, image of a deity”) (however, see ལྷ (lha) for other etymology), Lepcha ᰗᰰ (klan, “similar”) & ᰗᰰᰜᰶ (klan-lă, “imitation”), Jingpho [script needed] (sum³¹-la³³, “picture, image”) & [script needed] (num³¹-la³³, “ghost”). Geilich (1994) adds Tibetan ལྡེམ (ldem, “statue, idol”) yet connects the Tibeto-Burman items to Old Chinese 似 (*ljɯʔ).

Doublet of 佯 (yáng, “to feign”) and 樣 /样 (yàng, “appearance”).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • meaningChinese人 “man; person; people (Classifier: 個／个 m c; 隻／只 h)”
  • soundChinese象 “elephant (Classifier: 頭／头 m; 隻／只 m c mn)”

Related: Chinese 樣 (doublet), Chinese 佯 (doublet), Tibetan ལད་མོ, Lepcha ᰗᰰ, Tibetan ལྡེམ

Words built on it: 好像

Meanings

character
  1. picture; image; photograph; figure
  2. statue; figure; sculpture
  3. to resemble; to be like
  4. to take for example; for example; for instance; such as
  5. image (of a function)

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

像：象也。从人从象，象亦聲。讀若養。

Xu Shen, c. 100 CE — the first analytical dictionary of Chinese characters.

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 人物的圖畫或雕塑。 例：人像、畫像、雕像
  2. 如同、相似。 例：相像、不像

© Ministry of Education, Taiwan — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW, shown unaltered.

How 像 was written 字形演變

  1. 像 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  2. 像 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  3. 像 in Regular script
    Regular
    楷書
    since c. 200 CE

Historical forms collected by the legacy etymfun dataset; most characters have several attested variants.

Sources

  • Historical glyph forms (zdic.net 字形演变) — Rights unverified
  • HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • 說文解字 Shuowen Jiezi (Xu Shen, c. 100 CE) — Public domain
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 像