象
xiàng
elephant; ivory; figure, image; appearance; sign or omen
Meaning
- Concrete/Material: The elephant; by metonymy, ivory (particularly likely in contexts of trade, luxury goods, or tributes).
- Visual Representation: A literal likeness, such as a figure, drawing, carving, or image.
- Phenomenological/Metaphysical: Outward appearance, aspect, or form—the manifestation of a thing as opposed to its internal essence. This sense is prominent in early Buddhist and philosophical texts.
- Divinatory/Semiotic: A sign, omen, or meaningful pattern observed in nature or on divination tools.
Grammar and usage
- Noun: Primary usage across all senses.
- Predicate/Verb: Can function as "to be like" or "to take the form of."
History and forms
- Semantic Variant: U+2CEA8 (calligraphic/scribal variant; meaning unchanged).
- Paleography: Earliest scripts are pictographic, representing the animal.
Translator notes
- When a text suggests the meaning "to imagine" or "to conceive," consider whether it is an archaic usage where observing a form and imagining one were not strictly distinguished, or if it may be a scribal omission of the heart radical (心) from 想.
Decontextualized translator aid. This page describes plausible lexical range; it does not choose what the glyph means in a particular passage.