by Caren Zuo 相 01 (xiàng) 02 (xiāng) 相 （look carefully）= 木(a semantic part meaning wood) + 目 (a semantic part meaning eye） It was created by putting two single characters together, both of which are radicals.
A man is looking at a piece of wood. What will he do? Wood is a very important stuff in people’s daily life. When one get a piece of wood, at first he will take a close look at it. Is it qualified to be used to build houses? Is it strong enough to be a main pillar or a roof beam? Or it is becoming rotted and can only be used as firewood? Therefore its original meaning is “look carefully”.
The position of “Prime Minister” in ancient China is called 丞相（chéng xiàng）, both of the characters “丞”and “相”mean “assist”, namely the person in this position should have the ability to assist the emperor to handle state affairs.
The character has two different tones with different meanings. When it means “look carefully”, it is pronounced the fourth tone. When it means “each other, the relation between one and the other”, it is pronounced the first tone.
Useful Phrases (相 pronounces the fourth tone in the following phrases) 可怜相 ( kě lián xiàng ) a pitiful looks 凶相 (xiōnɡxiàng ) a fierce appearance 照相 (zhào xiàng ) take photos 相貌 (xiàng mào ) looks ( of persons) 相面 (xiàng miàn ) read one’s fortune in one’s face 丞相 (chéng xiàng) an ancient title of “prime minister”
(相 pronounces the first tone in the following phrases) 互相 (hù xiāng ) each other 相处 (xiāng chǔ) get along 相反 (xiāng fǎn ) opposite 相同 (xiāng tóng ) the same
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