Taxonomy of meanings for 丈:　　

Additional information about 丈

說文解字:

Criteria
• OLD MAN
  

  1. Sǒu 叟 (ant. tóng 童 "young boy") and the somewhat rarer zhàng rén 丈人 (ant. hái tí 孩提 "child") refer respectfully to a venerable old man of some status.

  2. Fǔ 父 is a southern dialect word referring to an old man.

  3. Lǎo 老 (ant. yòu 幼 "young person") is a neutral term referring generically to the aged, including men and women.

  4. Wēng 翁 (ant. ér 兒 "young child") refers generally to an old man without suggestions of venerability, but the word became current only in Han times.

• HUSBAND
  

  1. The general current word for a husband is fū 夫.

  2. Liáng rén 良人 is a familiar idiom for a husband.

  3. Zhàng fū 丈夫 is an informal colloquial word for a husband, one suspects, but it is hard to see how one may prove this point.

• MALE
  

  1. The current general term is nán 男 (opp. nǚ 女 "female) or, more administratively and technically nán zǐ 男子 (opp. nǚ zǐ 女子 "female").

  2. Mǔ 牡 refers to the male of birds and beasts in purely biological terms.

  3. Xióng 雄 denotes maleness, but often connotes virility, strength and domination as well.

  4. Zhàng fū 丈夫 (opp. fù rén 婦人 "woman") is a current, probably colloquial, word for an adult male.

  5. Fū 夫 is a dignified term for an adult male.

• FATHER-IN-LAW
  

  1. The standard word for a father-in-law is jiù 舅.

  2. Zhàng rén 丈人 is a colloquial term for a father-in-law.

Word relations