看起来 meaning in English
seemingly; apparently; looks as if; appears to be; gives the impression that; seems on the face of it to be
Meaning of 看起来
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- seemingly; apparently; looks as if; appears to be; gives the impression that; seems on the face of it to be
How to use 看起来
看起来 comes before an adjective or a clause to give an impression based on appearance. It can also start a sentence to mean apparently. Example: 你看起来很累。(Nǐ kàn qǐlái hěn lèi.) You look tired.
看 (kàn) means to look, and 起来 (qǐlái) means to rise up. When you look at something and an impression rises up in your mind, that is 看起来, it seems or looks like.
Common mistake: Learners often put an extra 像 or 是 where it is not needed, as in 你看起来是很累. With an adjective, just say 你看起来很累, and save 看起来像 for comparisons with a noun, as in 他看起来像老师. In speech, 起来 after a verb is usually neutral tone (kàn qilai), so do not stress qǐ with a full third tone.
看起来 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
看 kàn · to see · 9 strokes
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起 qǐ · to rise · 10 strokes
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来 lái · to come · 7 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 看起来.
| 一起 | yīqǐ | (in) the same place; together; in company (with) |
| 看到 | kàndào | to see |
| 回来 | huílái | to return; to come back |
| 起来 | qǐlái | to stand up; to get up; also pr. [qi3lai2] |
| 对不起 | duìbuqǐ | I'm sorry; excuse me; I beg your pardon; to let (sb) down; to disappoint |
| 出来 | chūlái | to come out; to appear |
| 看见 | kànjiàn | to see; to catch sight of |
| 进来 | jìnlái | to come in |
| 来到 | láidào | to arrive; to come |
| 好看 | hǎokàn | good-looking; nice-looking; (of a movie, book, TV show etc) good |
| 起床 | qǐchuáng | to get out of bed; to get up |
| 看病 | kànbìng | to visit a doctor; to see a patient |
Questions about 看起来
What does 看起来 mean?
看起来 (kàn qǐlái) means "seemingly; apparently; looks as if; appears to be; gives the impression that; seems on the face of it to be".
How do you write 看起来?
看起来 is made of 3 characters: 看 (9 strokes), 起 (10 strokes), 来 (7 strokes). That is 26 strokes in total.
Is 看起来 an HSK word?
Yes. 看起来 is on the HSK 3 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 看起来 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 看起来 is written 看起來.
What is the difference between 看起来 and 好像?
看起来 is based on what you see or observe, like appearance or a situation in front of you. 好像 (hǎoxiàng) is broader and can express any vague feeling or guess, even without visual evidence.
Can I use 听起来 or 吃起来 in the same way?
Yes. The pattern verb + 起来 means it seems when you do that action. 听起来不错 (tīng qǐlái búcuò) means it sounds good, and 吃起来很甜 (chī qǐlái hěn tián) means it tastes sweet.