相当

The Chinese word 相当 (xiāngdāng) is composed of two characters: 相 (xiāng) and 当 (dāng). The character 相 originally meant "to face each other" or "to be opposite to each other". In modern Chinese, it is often used as a prefix to indicate "mutual" or "reciprocal". The character 当 originally meant "to be in the right place at the right time" or "to be appropriate". In modern Chinese, it is often used as a verb meaning "to be equal to" or "to be worthy of".When these two characters are combined, the word 相当 takes on the meaning of "to be equal to" or "to be comparable to". It can also be used to mean "quite" or "very". For example, the sentence 他相当聪明 (tā xiāngdāng cōngming) means "He is quite intelligent".The word 相当 is a common word in Chinese and is used in a variety of contexts. It is an important word for HSK learners to know, as it is used in both spoken and written Chinese.