la imagen (PLURAL las imágenes) NOUN image, picture
Imagen has very much the same range of application as its English cousin image.
It can be used literally to refer to a physical image or picture:
las imágenes del accidente the images or pictures of the accident
And as all designers and presenters know:
Una imagen vale más que mil palabras. A picture is worth a thousand words.
(Remember that in Spanish the phrase is, word for word, ‘more than a thousand words’.)
Like English, imagen can refer by extension to the mental image or picture you have of someone:
Tenía otra imagen de ti. I had a different image of you.
Imagen can also refer to the physical reflection of something, as in a mirror:
Contemplaba su imagen en el espejo. He was studying his reflection in the mirror.
There are also two useful idioms you can use imagen in:
ser la viva imagen de alguien to be the spitting image of somebody
Es la viva imagen de su padre. He’s the spitting image of his father.
a su imagen y semejanza in his/her own image
Ha confeccionado un equipo a su imagen y semejanza. She’s put together a team in her own image.
