The kanji 想 primarily conveys the idea of "thought," "idea," "think," or "consider." It represents the process of thinking, reflecting, and forming opinions or concepts in the mind. It encompasses both the act of having thoughts and the thoughts themselves.

・On-yomi (音読み): ソウ (sou) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): おも（う） (omo(u))

⚫︎ 想像 (そうぞう) Translation: imagination, guess ⚫︎ 感想 (かんそう) Translation: impression, thoughts, feeling ⚫︎ 思想 (しそう) Translation: thought, ideology

The kanji 想 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字). The left side is a part of the character 心 (こころ/shin), which means "heart" or "mind," indicating the semantic element of "thought" or "thinking." The right side, 相 (そう/sou), provides the phonetic component, suggesting the sound and also contributing to the overall meaning through its connection to "appearance" or "aspect" - that is, an appearance of an idea in the mind. Therefore, it pictorially represents the activity of the mind, with 相 emphasizing the form or shape the idea takes.