像…什麼的grammar point · tier 2 · open sample list 像…什麼的 (such as …, and the like)
Brackets an open sample list: 像 opens with 'such as', the named items sit between, and 什麼的 trails to leave the rest of the kind unnamed.
字源 FORM what the parts do
像 opens the slot with 'such as' — its 亻 beside 象 carries the sense of being like, here pointing at examples of a kind. 什麼的 trails the closer: 什 and 麼 are both on loan for their sound in the question word 什麼, and 的 pins the whole as 'that sort of thing'. The samples sit in the gap between the two brackets.
故事 STORY a scene to remember it by
A drawer pulled open; a few things lifted out and named, the rest left lying inside and pushed shut with one tap of the tail.
字源記憶法
框 · Frame
像 [item], [item], [item] 什麼的
觸 · Trigger
Naming a couple of examples of one kind and wanting to leave the list open — these are samples, more of the same sort go unsaid.
序 · The move
1Open with 像 before the first named item.Are the items examples of one kind, not the whole set?
2List a few members, comma-separated, inside the gap.Two or three samples is enough; the closer carries the rest.
3Tap 什麼的 right after the last named item, then continue the sentence.什麼的 reads as 'and that sort of thing', leaving the unnamed members implied; if the list is meant to be complete, drop it and join with 跟/和.
例 · Examples
1臺灣有些食物，像such as (opens the sample list)臭豆腐stinky tofu、大腸麵線rice-noodle soup with intestine、豬血糕pig's blood cake什麼的and the like (closes the list as open)，都是以前我沒吃過的。
Taiwan has some foods — stinky tofu, rice-noodle intestine soup, pig's blood cake, and the like — all things I had never eaten before.
Both leave a list open. 像…什麼的 wraps the items in two brackets and stays spoken/colloquial; 等(等) sits bare after the items in formal and written register.
Inside this frame 像 means 'such as', sampling a kind; alone, 像 means 'looks like / resembles' (他很像他爸爸). The trailing 什麼的 is what switches 像 from resemblance to listing.
✗ 像臭豆腐、豬血糕。(opener with no closer, reads as a comparison) → ✓ 像臭豆腐、豬血糕什麼的。(brackets close the open list)
✗ 臭豆腐、豬血糕什麼的像… (closer drifts off the list, opener stranded) → ✓ 像臭豆腐、豬血糕什麼的 (像 leads, 什麼的 trails the final item)
✗ 像咖啡跟紅茶什麼的 (closed join + open closer collide) → ✓ 像咖啡、紅茶什麼的 (open list throughout)
English speakers map 像 onto 'like' and 什麼的 onto a free-floating 'and stuff', placing them loosely; in Chinese they are a fixed pair of brackets — 像 must lead the samples and 什麼的 must immediately follow the last one. 什麼 here is not the question 'what'; the 什麼的 tail is fused and carries no question force.