Taxonomy of meanings for 乘:　　

Additional information about 乘

說文解字:

Criteria
• CLASSIFIERS
  

  人 is the measure word for persons.

  匹 is the measure word for horses.

  乘 is the measure word for carriages.

• DRIVE
  

  1. Yù 御 refers to the driving and steering of a carriage.

  2. Chéng 乘 is simply to ride in a conveyance without necessarily steering it.

  3. Jià 駕 is to get the horses and/or a conveyance ready for driving, or to order this to be done, and then by extension the going to a place by a conveyance.

  4. Qū 驅 is to drive a conveyance at high speed, or to have it driven for one at high speed.

• CHARIOT
  

  1. The current word for a military chariot is shèng 乘 usually drawn by four horses.

  2. Róng 戎 is a old general word for chariots which was already rare by Warring States times.

  3. Cháo chē 轈車 refers to a high observation chariot.

  4. Qīng chē 輕車 refers to a highly mobile light and quick chariot.

  5. Zī zhòng 輜重 refers to military vehicles used to transport weapons and supplies.

  6. Fén yūn/wēn 轒榡 refers to a four-wheel covered roofed chariot with the baldachin made of ox hide.

  For illustrations of these see　中國古代兵器圖冊 (Huang Jingui)

• ASCEND
  

  [ARCHAIC/CURRENT]

  [[BASIC/DERIVED]]

  [DIFFICULT/EASY]

  [ELEVATED/VULGAR]

  [+FIG/LITERAL]

  1. Shēng 升 (ant. jiàng 降 "descend") is perhaps the most general word dedicated to the meaning of "going up", and the word often has a literary, dignified flavour.

  [GENERAL]; [[BASIC]], [[CURRENT]]

  2. Shàng 上 (ant. xià 下 "descend"), on the basis of the general meaning "above", comes to refer to the moving to the position on top of or above something else, and the word has no elevated literary flavour.

  [GENERAL]; [[CURRENT]], [[DERIVED]]

  3. Dēng 登 refers to one entering a vehicle or moving onto a higher surface of any kind, typically (but not always) in a dignified manner.

  [ELEVATED!]; [[CURRENT+]]

  4 Pān 攀 refers to an arduous movement across difficult terrain to a higher position, supporting oneself by objects that one can hold on to as one is moving upwards.

  [DIFFICULT+], [LITERAL]; [[BASIC]], [[CURRENT]]

  5. Yuán 緣 refers to an often arduous movement in difficult "terrain" and guided by certain features of that terrain.

  [DIFFICULT]; [[DERIVED]]

  6. Chéng 乘 refers to the mounting of a vehicle, specifically.

  [SPECIFIC]; [[CURRENT]]

  7. Jī 躋 refers to ascending a burial mound as part of ritual.

  [ARCHAIC], [SPECIFIC]; [[RARE]]

  8. Zhì 陟 "poetic: scale a mountain" (ant. jiàng 降 "descend") is a rare archaising words with highly restricted usage.

  [ARCHAIC], [SPECIFIC]; [[RARE]]

  9. Jí 即 (ant.* xùn 遜 "resign a ruler's position", or perhaps also shàn 禪 "resign the throne") is always metaphorically "ascend (the throne)".

  [SPECIFIC]; [[CURRENT]], [[DERIVED]]

• VEHICLE
  

  1. The current general term for a vehicle is chē 車, a term which also refers even more generally to all contraptions with wheels.

  2. Jià 駕 refers to a yoked carriage.

  3. Yù 御 refers to a yoked carriage, with driver in place, ready to go.

  4. Yú 輿 refers originally to the compartment xiāng 箱 of the carriage, but came to be used as a general term for a carriage used for transporting people. See CARRIAGE

  5. Chéng 乘 is the general noun classifier for all vehicles, and this word must be carefully from the shèng 乘 "war chariot". See CHARIOT

  6. Zhěn 軫 "back bord on a carriage" is often used to refer to a carriage as a whole, by synecdoche.

• RIDE
  

  1. Qí 騎 refers typically to the riding of animals (and by extension to the straddling on cosmological entities).

  2. Chéng 乘 refers typically to the riding of vehicles (and by extension to the straddling on cosmological entities).

• RELY ON
  

  1. The general term for relying on something with confidence is yīn 因.

  2. Yī 依 refers to dependence and reliance on something which may be deliberate or non-deliberate.

  3. Běn 本 refers to an abstract often almost metaphysical or logical dependence on something.

  4. Dài 待 refers to logical dependence on something

  5. Rén 任 typically refers to reliance on someone inferior in the context of public administration.

  6. Yǎng 仰 typically refers to hopeful reliance on a superior.

  7. Chéng 乘 refers to manifest deliberate reliance on some external condition for the furthering of one's own plans.

  8. Jiè 藉 / 借 and jiǎ 假 refer to availing oneself of conveniently available outside things for one's own purposes.

  9. Jì 寄 and tuō 託 refer to entrusting oneself to others and thus relying on them.

  10. Shì 恃 and the rare hù 怙 refer to reliance on a typically hidden basic resource or factor.

• CARRIAGE HORSE
  

  1. The most common word referring to a team of horses pulling one carriage is sì 駟.

  2. Shèng 乘 is an archaic word for a team of four horses.

  3. Fú 服 refers to the two horses immediately next to the carriage pole yuán 轅 at the centre of the team.

  4. Cān 驂 can refer to a team of three horses, but the word can also refer to the outer two horses in a four-horse team.

  5. Pián 胼 refers to a team of two horses.

• OPPRESS
  

  1. The most common general word for oppression is probably nŸè 虐 (ant. cí 慈 "show loving care for").

  2. Bào 暴 (ant. fǔ 撫 "care well for") emphasises the aspect of violence.

  3. Líng 陵 (ant. yù 育 "take loving care of", and the rare jí 藉, and chéng 乘 emphasise the abuse of supremacy of social or political position.

Word relations
• Object: (RIDE)桴/RAFT1 Attribution
• Object: (RIDE)輿/VEHICLE Yú 輿 refers originally to the compartment xiāng 箱 of the carriage, but came to be used as a general term for a carriage used for transporting people. See CARRIAGE 1 Attribution
• Contrast: (DRIVE)駕/DRIVE Jià 駕 is to get the horses and/or a conveyance ready for driving, or to order this to be done, and then by extension the going to a place by a conveyance. 1 Attribution