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Difference between Xiang想 and Yao 要

Although Xiang想 and Yao 要 can be exchanged or used together in some circumstances, in some special words Xiang cannot be replaced by Yao, vise versa. The inner mechanism of their difference is hided in their oracle meanings.

The oracle of Yao要is a person who put his hands on his waist, so Yao means waist in ancient time. As waist is in the middle of human body, which is the key(middle) to the whole body, the meaning of Yao got extended to importance, significance, need, want and so on. So, Yao is need.

The oracle of Xiang想 contains 3 parts, tree, eye and heart. The upper part contains tree and eye, which means a boy is climbs on a high tree to watch a girl that he gets crushed on. The lower part is heart, which refers to a special kind of feeling when the boy is thinking and remembering of that girl who he was secretly watching at. Combing the three parts together, ancient people created this character Xiang想. Now, Xiang is extended to think and so on. Hence, Xiang is want.

Thus, Yao is substantial requirements and Xiang is mental inspiration. In this way, requirement is YaoQiu 要求 rather than XiangQiu 想求, meanwhile, imagination is XiangXiang 想象 rather than YaoXiang 要象. The difference between Xiang and Yao is the difference between want and need.

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