HSK 3 · Function Words

像 xiàng “be like” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 像 means

  1. be like
  2. resemble
  3. appearance
  4. appear
  5. to look as if
More meanings from CC-CEDICT
  • such as
  • image

How to say 像

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale像xiàng4th tone, falling

像 in a sentence

  1. 你看起来很像你的哥哥。

    Nǐ kànqǐlai hěn xiàng nǐ de gēge.

    You look a lot like your older brother.

    Sentence #2030813 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  2. 生活就像一盒巧克力。

    Shēnghuó jiù xiàng yì hé qiǎokèlì.

    Life is like a box of chocolates.

    Sentence #3031839 from Tatoeba

  3. 你的椅子和我的很像。

    Nǐ de yǐzi hé wǒ de hěn xiàng.

    Your chair is very similar to mine.

    Sentence #1225645 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 像 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 像 (xiàng) with each of its parts in a different colour
像xiàngto resemble
  • 亻person form of 人 · rénMeaning part
  • 象elephant · xiàngSound part

亻 hints at the meaning (person); 象 (xiàng) hints at the sound. Compare it with xiàng.

How to write 像

像 13 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

像 (xiàng) stroke order chart: each stroke of the character in the order you write it
Stroke order chart for 像 (xiàng). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 像

Words with 像

好像hǎoxiàng · as if偶像ǒuxiàng · idol肖像xiàoxiàng · portrait不像话búxiànghuà · unreasonable

More words: Particles & Connectors

为wèi · for为了wèile · in order to先xiān · first向xiàng · direction一边yìbiān · one side又yòu · once again只有zhǐyǒu · only才cái · ability

FAQs

像 (xiàng) means “be like” or “resemble”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it xiàng: xiàng with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 像 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type xiang with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 像 from the suggestions. Typing xiang into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
像 is an HSK 3 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.