The kanji 像 primarily conveys the meaning of "image," "statue," or "figure." It refers to a representation of something, whether it be a physical object, a person, or an idea. It encapsulates the concept of something that resembles or imitates another thing.

・On-yomi (音読み): ゾウ (zou) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): None

⚫︎ 肖像画 (shouzougа) Translation: Portrait ⚫︎ 仏像 (butsuzou) Translation: Buddha statue ⚫︎ 想像 (souzou) Translation: Imagination

The kanji 像 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, keisei moji). It is composed of the semantic component 人 (nin, hito), meaning "person" or "human," and the phonetic component 象 (zou), which represents the sound zou and originally meant "elephant." The "elephant" component was borrowed for its sound and helped indicate the pronunciation, while the "person" radical specifies that the image or representation refers to humans or things related to humans. The character evolved over time, with the final shape appearing in the modern form.