Xiang (pinyin: xiāng, xiàng) is a first-class Chinese character (commonly used word) in the General Standard of Chinese. This word first appeared in Shang Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Shang inscriptions. Its ancient glyph is like observing trees with eyes. Its original meaning is to look, that is, to observe and judge the shape. Phase is also extended to occupy the view, that is, according to the appearance, shape and situation of things to predict fortunes.
Also used as a noun, it refers to the observed situation and form, and also refers to the person who plays an auxiliary role. Read the Xi above. Xiang Yan said that xiāng said that he personally inspected it. In addition, "Xiang" can also be used as an adverb, indicating that actions are interactive or unilaterally superimposed. Jin Shimi's "Chen Qingbiao": "Solitary defeat, like a shadow." Looking at Tianmen Mountain by Tang Li Bai: "The green hills on both sides of the strait are opposite, and the sails are alone."
The Origin and Development of Characters
Know words. The word "Xiang" was first seen in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, and its early structure was not fixed, either up and down or left and right. See Figure 3- Figure 5 for bronze inscriptions. The shape of bronze inscriptions is similar to Oracle Bone Inscriptions's previous word "elephant", but the strokes of bronze inscriptions are thicker. Under the bronze inscription or with "two" as the decorative pen. Whether it is Oracle Bone Inscriptions or the bronze inscription, its structure is composed of "wood" and "eye", which is today's tree.
For people's eyes, the outline outside is like an eye socket and the inside is like a pupil, which is the pictograph of "eye" today, meaning to look. According to the structure of the word "Xiang", scholars understand its original meaning as looking at trees. This shows that the configuration of the word "Xiang" reveals the ancestors' psychology of liking trees, and also shows that they are some people who like to look at trees.