想 (xiǎng): to think, to want

想 (xiǎng) is a Chinese character meaning “to think, to want.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 相 (phonetic) and 心 (semantic). It ranks #99 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 想 mind. Its radical form 心 (heart) appears in many related characters such as 忘 (wàng, to forget), 爱 (ài, to love), 心 (xīn, heart, mind).

Spoken pronunciation
HSK 1Radical: 心 heart13 strokesFrequency #99相 phonetic心 semantic

Definitions

  1. to think, to want

Etymology & Origin

想

pictophoneticmind

Decomposition: ⿱相心 (layout: top-bottom)

Components:相phonetic心semantic

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

Practice writing 想 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 想

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
想法nounxiǎng fǎway of thinking4
想象verbxiǎng xiàngto imagine5
梦想verb/nounmèng xiǎng(fig.) to dream of4
想念verbxiǎng niànto miss5
幻想verb/nounhuàn xiǎngto fantasize6
思想nounsī xiǎngthought5
理想noun/adjectivelǐ xiǎngan ideal4
设想verbshè xiǎngto imagine6
感想noungǎn xiǎngimpressions6
联想verblián xiǎngto associate (cognitively)6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
想到verbxiǎng dàoto think of
想起verbxiǎng qǐto recall
想见verbxiǎng jiànto infer
想像verbxiǎng xiàngto imagine
妄想verbwàng xiǎngto attempt vainly
回想verbhuí xiǎngto recall
着想verbzhuó xiǎngto give thought (to others)
想不到adverbxiǎng bu dàounexpected
猜想verbcāi xiǎngto guess
休想verbxiū xiǎngdon't think (that)
想象力nounxiǎng xiàng lìimagination
意想不到yì xiǎng bù dàounexpected
预想verbyù xiǎngto anticipate
想方设法phrasexiǎng fāng shè fǎto think up every possible method (idiom)
心想verbxīn xiǎngto think to oneself
100
Total compounds
30
As first character
48
As last character
22
As middle character

想 appears in 100 compound words: 30 as the first character, 48 as the last, and 22 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with 想 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

思sī
0.68794,858 co-occurrences
妄wàng
0.5847,076 co-occurrences
幻huàn
0.51027,979 co-occurrences
你nǐ
0.49021,158 co-occurrences
梦mèng
0.4679,077 co-occurrences
要yào
0.45754,462 co-occurrences
猜cāi
0.4405,588 co-occurrences
理lǐ
0.43945,750 co-occurrences
像xiàng
0.42315,620 co-occurrences
法fǎ
0.41746,170 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (15)

不堪设想bùkānshèxiǎngHSK 7+

too dreadful to contemplate; too horrible to imagine

phrase
朝思暮想zhāosīmùxiǎngHSK 7+

to yearn for something day and night; to long for something deeply

phrase
痴心妄想chīxīnwàngxiǎngHSK 7+

to obsessively fantasize about something that cannot come true

phrase
封建思想fēng jiàn sī xiǎngHSK 4+

feudal way of thinking

phrase
可想而知kěxiǎng'érzhīHSK 3+

one can well imagine

phrase
苦思冥想kǔsīmíngxiǎng

to think long and hard

phrase
冥思苦想míngsīkǔxiǎng

synonym of 冥思苦索 (míngsīkǔsuǒ, “to think long and hard”)

phrase
突发奇想tūfāqíxiǎngHSK 3+

to suddenly come up with an ingenious idea; to suddenly be inspired to do something

phrase
想方设法xiǎngfāngshèfǎHSK 5+

to do everything possible; to try anything one can think of

phrase
想入非非xiǎng rù fēi fēiHSK 4+

to indulge in fantasy (idiom); to let one's imagination run wild

phrase
心想事成xīn xiǎng shì chéngHSK 3+

(idiom) to have one's wishes come true; wish you the best!

phrase
异想天开yì xiǎng tiān kāiHSK 6+

(idiom) to imagine the wildest thing; to indulge in fantasy

phrase

Showing 12 of 15 idioms containing 想.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

我想请一周的假，回老家处理一些家庭事务。

Wǒ xiǎng qǐng yì zhōu de jià, huí lǎojiā chǔlǐ yìxiē jiātíng shìwù.

I'd like to request a week off to go back to my hometown to handle some family matters.

RfiFeb 2026

默茨访华前警告不要抱有“幻想”

mò 茨 fǎng huá qián jǐng gào bù yāo bào yǒu huàn xiǎng

Mertz warned against "illusions" before visiting China

WorldjournalFeb 2026

没有你想的那么光鲜 有些冬奥选手已私下在做一事

méi yǒu nǐ xiǎng de nà má guāng xiān yǒu xiē dōng ào xuǎn shǒu yǐ sī xià zài zuò yī shì

Not as glamorous as you think Some Winter Olympians are already doing something in private

百度新闻Feb 2026

马年“识局”6 | 不想当“跛脚鸭”,特朗普能否守..

mǎ nián shí jú 6 bù xiǎng dāng 跛 jiǎo yā , tè lǎng pǔ néng fǒu shǒu . .

Year of the Horse "Knowing the Situation" 6 | If you don't want to be a "lame duck", can Trump keep it?

百度新闻Feb 2026

机器人春晚PK赛:热闹之余,多想三个问题 | 视频

jī qì rén chūn wǎn sài rè nào zhī yú , duō xiǎng sān gě wèn tí shì pín

Robot Spring Festival PK Match: Three Questions to Ask While You're Watching | VIDEO

Tatoeba

你想要什么喝的吗？

Nǐ xiǎngyào shénme hē de ma?

Do you want something to drink?

Tatoeba

我这样想是对的吗？

Wǒ zhèyàng xiǎng shì duì de ma?

Am I correct in thinking thus?

Tatoeba

想再要一点蛋糕吗？

Xiǎng zài yào yīdiǎn dàngāo ma?

Would you care for some more cake?

Tatoeba

你们为什么想今天走？

Nǐmen wèishénme xiǎng jīntiān zǒu?

Why do you want to leave today?

Tatoeba

你在这儿的时候想做什么？

Nǐ zài zhèr de shíhou xiǎng zuò shénme?

What do you want to do while you're here?

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 心 (mind) component

意yì怎zěn德dé愿yuàn态tài急jí恶è恐kǒng忘wàng恩ēn

Related Characters

忘wàng爱ài心xīn思sī意yì感gǎn愿yuàn志zhì念niàn总zǒng

Homophones — Characters pronounced xiǎng

箱xiāng相xiāng向xiàng像xiàng象xiàng响xiǎng项xiàng

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 想 (xiǎng) mean in Chinese?
想 (xiǎng) primarily means "to think, to want." It is classified as HSK Level 1, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #99 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 想 and 霜?
想 (xiǎng) and 霜 (shuāng) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 心 vs 雨 (same 相 component).
How many strokes does 想 have?
想 is written with 13 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 想?
The radical associated with 想 is 心 (heart). This radical appears in many characters related to heart.
What are the components of 想?
想 is composed of: 相 (phonetic), 心 (semantic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿱相心 with a top-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 想?
Common words with 想 include: 想到 (xiǎng dào, "to think of"); 想法 (xiǎng fǎ, "way of thinking"); 想象 (xiǎng xiàng, "to imagine"); 梦想 (mèng xiǎng, "(fig.) to dream of"); 想起 (xiǎng qǐ, "to recall"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 想 (xiǎng)?
Several characters share the pronunciation xiǎng: 箱 (box), 相 (mutual, appearance), 向 (towards), 像 (to resemble), and 3 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 想 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 想 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 想 with real-time feedback

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Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.