想
xiǎng · HSK 1
to want
💭 想 = 相 (mutual/appearance, phonetic xiāng) + 心 (heart) — heart-thoughts
The 心 radical at the bottom marks it as a mental/emotional verb, while 相 on top supplies the xiǎng sound. Covers both 'to think' and 'to want/miss' — desires the heart turns over.
想 — heart 心 + 相 (xiāng, phonetic)
想 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The heart radical 心 at the bottom carries the meaning, since classical Chinese located thought and feeling in the heart. The top component 相 (xiāng) supplies the sound, and over time the character settled into the senses 'to think,' 'to want,' and 'to miss.'