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识相 (shí xiàng) — to be sensible and know how to behave appropriately in a situation; to be tactful

Definition

Used to describe someone who reads the room and behaves appropriately. The negative 不识相 means tactless or oblivious to the social cues others have picked up on.

adjective
to be sensible and know how to behave appropriately in a situationto be tactful

Examples

  • 识相，。
    Nǐ zuì hǎo shí xiàng diǎn, bié zài zhè lǐ nào shì.
    You'd better be sensible and not cause trouble here.
  • 识相，，。
    Tā tài bù shí xiàng le, dà jiā dōu zài máng, tā hái zài liáo tiān.
    He's so tactless — everyone is busy, and he's still chatting.
  • ，识相。
    Zài zhè zhǒng chǎng hé, nǐ yào xué huì shí xiàng.
    In this kind of situation, you need to learn to be tactful.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

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

识shíknow
相xiāngappearance

识 (to know) + 相 (the appearance of a situation) means knowing how to behave tactfully.

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.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 識; 识 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yánsay
Sound part声符shēngfú
戠
戠zhí識zhì
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 識 pairs 言 (say) with 戠 as a sound part; the simplified 识 is a shorthand, so its parts are not the historical parts.

Open 识 →

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 →
Appears in
Personality & Traits

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