如 rú joins 女 (nǚ, woman) and 口 (kǒu, mouth). The two parts sit side by side: 女 on the left, 口 on the right. The traditional and simplified forms are identical, so the same glyph stands in both script slots above. The Shuōwén reads the early sense as "to follow, to comply with a command," the picture of someone hearing words from the mouth and acting in accordance with them.

From "to comply with, to accord with" the meaning generalized outward. To accord with a thing is to match it, to be like it; and to suppose a thing accords is to set a condition. So one verb of obedience spread into the three jobs 如 does today:

1. Like, as (comparison). One thing accords with another, resembles it: 如同 rútóng (just like), 犹如 yóurú (just as), 例如 lìrú (for example), 如此 rúcǐ (like this, so).
2. If, supposing (condition). Suppose the case accords: 如果 rúguǒ (if), 假如 jiǎrú (supposing), 如何 rúhé (how, in what way).
3. To be as good as, according to (measure). To come up to a standard or follow a wish: 不如 bùrú (not as good as), 如意 rúyì (as one wishes).

The thread through every sense is accord. Whether the page says two things are alike, sets up a supposed case, or measures one thing against another, 如 is the word for one thing lining up with another. It is one of the highest-frequency function words in the language, the workhorse of comparison and the opening of countless conditional sentences.

The most common job 如 does for a learner is open a conditional sentence. 如果 rúguǒ is the everyday "if," placed at the front of the supposed clause and usually paired with 就 jiù in the result: 如果下雨，我们就不去 "if it rains, then we won't go." The 如 sets up the supposed case, and 就 delivers the consequence.

Its near-twin is 假如 jiǎrú (jiǎ "supposing" + rú). Both mean "if," and in most sentences they swap freely. The difference is register and hypotheticality: 如果 is neutral and by far the more frequent in speech, while 假如 leans a touch more formal and is favored when the case is more clearly imagined or unreal, as in "supposing you were the boss." The third member of the family, 如何 rúhé (rú + hé "what"), is the literary "how, in what way," the written-register cousin of spoken 怎么 zěnme.

When 如 means "to be as good as," its negative 不如 bùrú becomes a quiet comparison tool. 不如 says "A is not as good as B," ranking the second thing higher: 我的中文不如他 "my Chinese is not as good as his." It also has a second, suggestive life: placed before a proposal, 不如 means "it would be better to," nudging toward a different choice: 不如我们明天去 "we'd be better off going tomorrow." Both readings turn on the same idea, that one option does not measure up to another.

On the positive side, 如意 rúyì means "according to one's wishes," a thing turning out the way the heart hoped. It is woven through New Year greetings (万事如意, "may all your affairs go as you wish") and gives its name to the 如意 scepter, the S-curved ornament that symbolizes wishes fulfilled.

Picture someone hearing a word from a 口, a mouth, and falling into step with it, doing exactly as told. That is the root sense of 如: to accord, to fall in line. Hold that picture and the three modern jobs follow on their own.

To accord with a thing is to be like it, so 如 means "like, as" (如同, 例如). To suppose a case accords is to set a condition, so 如 means "if" (如果, 假如). And to ask whether a thing measures up to a standard is 不如, "not as good as," while 如意 is the happy outcome that accords with the heart's wish. Whenever you meet 如, ask what is lining up with what, and the sense falls into place.