箱

xiāng

box

trunk; chest

bamboo (⺮) + 相 = box or chest

Bamboo was the traditional material for making storage containers in early China. 相 gives the sound xiāng; the bamboo radical carries the meaning.

⺮+相→箱

⺮Bamboo (variant of 竹)Semantic

相MutualPhonetic

邮政信箱

yóu zhèng xìn xiāng

post office box

邮箱

yóu xiāng

mailbox

蜂箱

fēng xiāng

beehive

铁箱

tiě xiāng

metal trunk

开箱

kāi xiāng

unboxing

自动装箱

zì dòng zhuāng xiāng

autoboxing (computing)

集油箱

jí yóu xiāng

oil sump

集装箱

jí zhuāng xiāng

container (for shipping)

集装箱船

jí zhuāng xiāng chuán

container ship

电冰箱

diàn bīng xiāng

refrigerator

电子信箱

diàn zǐ xìn xiāng

e-mail inbox

电子邮箱

diàn zǐ yóu xiāng

email inbox