向

Originally written as 嚮, later simplified to 向.

口 (mouth) depicts sound or direction of speech.

冂 (open country, boundary) and 𠂤 (a person with bent arms) combine to suggest orientation or facing.

The form came to mean “to face a direction,” then broadened to “toward,” “heading to,” and figuratively, “to aspire.”

Semantic range:

- to face, to turn toward (향하다, 마주보다);

- to move or head in a direction (나아가다, 향하다);

- just now, formerly, a short while ago (막, 접때);

- eventually, finally (마침내);

- if, supposing (만약).

向上 (향상) — improvement, upward progress

向日葵 (향일규) — sunflower (lit. “turning toward the sun”)

面向 (면향) — oriented toward, facing

向來 (향래) — all along, until now

向學 (향학) — to aspire to learning

向背 (향배) — inclination, allegiance (lit. “toward and away”)

In classical texts, 向 appears frequently as a versatile function word:

- directional particle (“toward”);

- temporal marker (“formerly, just now”);

- conditional marker (“if, supposing”).

In the Ryukyu Kingdom, the royal surname Shō (상/尙) was altered for collateral relatives as 向 (Shō / Shō-uji) during dynastic restructuring, marking aristocratic descent.

In modern Chinese and Japanese, it retains both the literal sense of “toward” and the figurative sense of “to aspire” (e.g., 向往 — yearning).