象 has three main senses: (1) the animal 'elephant', (2) 'shape, form, appearance' as a noun (e.g. 现象 'phenomenon', 形象 'image'), and (3) 'to imitate, to resemble' as a verb (e.g. 象形 'pictographic', 象声 'onomatopoeia'). Note that the verb sense is often written with the homophonic character 像 in modern Chinese (e.g. 像他一样 'like him'), but 象 appears in compound words like 象征 'symbol' and 象形字 'pictogram'. Be careful not to confuse 象 with 像 when writing.