看相 (kàn xiàng) — to practice physiognomy; to have one's fortune told (by reading facial features)

Definition

A verb meaning to read someone's face or features to tell their fortune (physiognomy), or to go have one's own fortune told this way. Distinct from 看风水 (geomancy for places) and from 看手相, which is fortune-telling by palm lines specifically.

verb
to practice physiognomyto have one's fortune told (by reading facial features)

Examples

  • 看相。
    Tā xǐ huan gěi rén kàn xiàng.
    He likes to tell people's fortunes by reading their faces.
  • 。
    Wǒ zhǎo nà wèi xiān sheng kàn guò yí cì xiāng.
    I had my fortune told by that gentleman once.
  • 看相。
    kàn xiàng Zài zhōng guó yǒu hěn cháng de lì shǐ.
    Physiognomy has a long history in China.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

看kànlook
相xiāngphysiognomy

看 'look' and 相 'physiognomy' combine to mean examining a face for fortune.

Characters in this word

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

The shape 看 puts 手 (hand) over 目 (eye), showing a hand placed above the eyes to gaze into the distance.

Open 看 →

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

In 相, 目 is an eye and 木 is a tree, showing an eye looking at a tree; this originally meant “to observe.”

Open 相 →

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