Definition
To look at, watch, or read something; also used to mean "to visit" a person.
Example
我每天晚上看电视。
Show translation
I watch television every evening.
Etymology
Oracle bone script depicts an eye (目) shielded by a hand (手) above it — the gesture of shading one's eyes to gaze into the distance. This pictographic origin directly mirrors the word's core meaning: to look or observe carefully.
Cultural note
看 does a lot of heavy lifting in Mandarin. Beyond "to watch/read," 看 means "to visit" a person (看朋友, "to visit a friend") and "to see a doctor" (看医生). It also appears in the filler phrase 你看 (nǐ kàn), roughly "you see" or "look," used to introduce a suggestion or opinion — a very common conversational move.