General word for how something or someone looks, often used in phrases like 相が変わる or 相を見る.
He came back looking tired.
physiognomy; fortune-telling by facial features
Traditional practice of reading a person's fortune or character from their facial features; often used in contexts like 相を見る or 人相.
grammatical aspect
Linguistic term for the temporal flow of an action (e.g., perfective, progressive).
Scientific term for distinct states of matter such as solid, liquid, gas, or plasma.
This town has really changed its appearance.
The fortune-teller read his physiognomy and predicted his future.
Japanese ～ている expresses the progressive aspect.
Water changes into liquid phase, solid phase, and gaseous phase depending on temperature.
consultation; discussion; asking for advice
mutual; reciprocal
succession; inheritance (of property, rights, or status) · inheritance; legacy
truth; real facts; actual situation
market price; going rate · speculation; trading · reputation; standing; estimation
relativity · relative · facing; confronting
difference; discrepancy; variation
suitable; appropriate; befitting · conjoining; association (Buddhist)
correlation; interrelation
illicit sexual relations; incest; adultery
aspect; phase; condition · modality
mutual opposition; contradiction; contrariety · repulsion
phase (wave, electricity, moon) · topology · register (linguistics)
facial features; looks; countenance · physiognomy
multiplication; multiplying together · synergy; synergism; mutually reinforcing effect
social conditions; state of society; sign of the times
palm lines; palm reading
look; expression; countenance
generating cycle; mutual generation
poor-looking; shabby; impoverished appearance · scrawny; thin; meager; sparse
carelessness; blunder; careless mistake · wetting oneself; soiling oneself
sleeping posture; sleeping position
countenance; features; looks
resemblance; likeness; similarity · similarity; similar · analogy; homology
hue; color phase
reality; real state of affairs; true state of affairs · true form of all things; ultimate reality
mutual love
complement; complementary
rivalry; conflict; struggle · mutual overcoming cycle; destructive cycle (five elements)
Standard kanji spelling for all senses.
The kanji 相 originally depicts an eye (目) observing a tree (木), suggesting 'to look at, observe', which extended to 'appearance, aspect'. The reading そう is the on'yomi.