想

Why does 想 look like this?

The character is made of two parts: the top part is 相 (xiāng), which means 'each other' or 'appearance' and acts as the phonetic sound-maker here, and the bottom part is 心 (xīn), which means 'heart.' In Chinese culture, the heart is where thoughts and feelings live, so putting a 'heart' under 'appearance' means you're forming an image or idea in your mind!