项 (xiàng): item

Meanings

1 item
2 thing
3 classifier for items, tasks, or policies

Characters

项

xiàng

item; nape of neck; measure word for items

Examples

这项工作很重要。

Zhèxiàng gōngzuò hěn zhòngyào.

This task is very important.

我们有三项任务需要完成。

Wǒmen yǒu sān xiàng rènwu xūyào wánchéng.

We have three tasks that need to be completed.

这项规定从下个月开始执行。

Zhèxiàng guīdìng cóng xiàgèyuè kāishǐ zhíxíng.

This regulation will be enforced starting next month.

Tips

usage

项 is used as a classifier for formal items: policies, regulations, tasks, achievements, records. It is more formal than 个.

grammar

Common collocations: 一项研究 (a research project), 一项政策 (a policy), 一项成就 (an achievement).

Components

radical

页 yè

head; page

Right indexing radical 页 (head). The original meaning of 项 was 'nape of the neck' — the back of the head where the 工 column meets the spine. The classifier sense spread by extension: 'an item' as a single neck/headcount of something. Same radical in 头, 颜, 顿.

phonetic

工 gōng

work (here phonetic)

Left 工 supplies the sound — gōng → xiàng shows audible drift in the same Old Chinese velar series. The 'work' meaning isn't active here. Same phonetic body produces 红 (hóng, red), 江 (jiāng, river), 攻 (gōng, attack), with the rime persisting across the family.