(xiàng) - towards, in the direction of; to face in Mandarin
xiàngTraditional: 向
Translation
towards, in the direction of; to face
Word origin
The character 向 (xiàng) 'toward, direction' is a pictograph of a window or opening in a wall, originally depicting a north-facing window and later extended to mean a direction one faces.
- Origin
- pictograph
- Root
- depicts a window or opening, extended to 'direction'
Stroke order
向
Examples
。
He walked over towards me.
。
Please look ahead.
。
She gave me a smile.
。
He nodded towards me.
。
Please turn left.
向 aims an action at a target. It goes before the person or the direction, and the verb comes after: 他向我点头 (he nodded to me), 请向左转 (please turn left). It overlaps with 往 (wǎng), which is used mainly for moving towards a place, while 向 also covers things directed at a person, such as speaking, waving or apologising. On its own it can still work as a verb meaning to face, which is where the sense of direction comes from. Do not confuse it with 像 (xiàng), the look-alike that means to resemble.
Where this fits
Appears in 1 word
Multi-character compounds in the corpus that contain 向.
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向: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "向" (towards, in the direction of; to face): 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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Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 5.