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想见 (xiǎng jiàn) — to infer, to gather, to imagine (based on evidence)

Definition

想见 (xiǎng jiàn) means to infer or visualize — to mentally picture something based on clues or evidence, not to "see" in person. The first character 想 carries the meaning of "thinking/imagining," and 见 here means "to perceive in the mind."

verb
to inferto gatherto imagine (based on evidence)

Examples

  • 想见。
    Cóng tā de huà zhōng kě yǐ xiǎng jiàn tā duì zhè jiàn shì hěn liǎo jiě.
    From his words, one can infer that he knows a lot about this matter.
  • 想见，。
    Bù nán xiǎng jiàn, zhè ge jué dìng huì yǐng xiǎng hěn duō rén.
    It's not hard to imagine that this decision will affect many people.
  • 想见。
    Wǒ men kě yǐ xiǎng jiàn dāng shí de chǎng jǐng yǒu duō me zhuàng guān.
    We can visualize how magnificent the scene was at that time.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
补充bǔchōngVerb + complement

An action followed by its result or direction.

想xiǎngthink
见jiànsee

“想” is to think or imagine, and “见” is to see, so the word means to visualize or infer.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
心心xīnheart, mind
Sound part声符shēngfú
相
相xiāng想xiǎng
Same sound today

想 has 心 (heart, mind) below 相 (to look at); the shape shows the mind looking at or considering something, and 相 also gives the sound.

Open 想 →

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 見; 见 is its simplified writing.

  • 目目mùeye
  • 卩卩jiékneeling person

The traditional form 見 pairs 目 (eye) with 卩 (kneeling person), showing a kneeling figure with a large eye for a head. The simplified 见 is a later shorthand.

Open 见 →
Appears in
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