(xiǎng) - to think; to want; to miss in Mandarin

xiǎng

Traditional: 想

HSK 1

#29 of 5,000 Core 1000

Translation

to think; to want; to miss

Word origin

The character 想 (xiǎng) 'to think, to want, to miss' is a phono-semantic compound: the 心 'heart/mind' radical beneath supplies the meaning, while 相 (xiāng) above gives the sound.

Origin: phono-semantic compound
Root: 相 (xiāng, phonetic) + 心 (heart radical)

Stroke order

想

Examples

。

I want to drink a glass of water.

？

What are you thinking about?

。

I miss my family very much.

。

He wants to study abroad.

。

I would like a cup of tea.

想 (xiǎng) covers three related semantic areas: thinking/pondering (我在想, I am thinking), wanting or wishing to do something (我想去, I want to go), and missing someone or something out of longing (我想你, I miss you). The context and what follows the verb determines which meaning is active.

The character combines the "heart/mind" radical (心) at the bottom with a phonetic component above, reflecting its cognitive and emotional range. Compared to 要 (yào, to want), 想 expresses a softer, more tentative desire - 我想喝水 ("I would like some water") is more polite than 我要喝水 ("I want water").

Where this fits

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Appears in 10 words

Multi-character compounds in the corpus that contain 想.

想要xiǎng yàoto want, to desire 想法xiǎng fǎidea, thought, opinion, view 想想xiǎng xiǎngto think about, to give some thought to 想到xiǎng dàoto think of, to come to mind 想象xiǎng xiàngto imagine; imagination 梦想mèng xiǎngdream, aspiration, to dream of 想起xiǎng qǐto recall, to think of, to remember 没想到méi xiǎng dàodid not expect, unexpectedly 想念xiǎng niànto miss, to long for, to think of fondly 想像xiǎng xiàngto imagine, imagination

Used in

Grammar articles

(21)

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Mandarin · Free printables

想: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "想" (to think; to want; to miss): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

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This word is part of lesson 1.