Taxonomy of meanings for 乾:　　

  • 乾 gān (OC: kaan MC: kɑn) 古寒切 平 廣韻：【字㨾云本音虔今借爲乾濕字又姓出何氏姓苑 】
    • DRIED MEAT
      • nmdried meat
    • DRY
      • vadNdried up; parched
      • vibe completely lacking in (life-giving) humidity, dead dry; be dry; be dried
      • vichangeget dry
      • vt(oN)causativecause to become dry> to dry the contextually determinate N
      • vtoNcausativemake dry, cause to become dry
      • vtoNcausativemake things dry NB: the object is not really omitted, but the verb is clearly transitive. This is a tricky case for grammatical analysis.
  • 乾 qián (OC: ɡran MC: ɡɯiɛn) 渠焉切 平 廣韻：【天也君也堅也渠焉切又音干九 】
    • SKY
      • nabmetaphysicalarchaic, metaphysical: Heaven (YI)
      • nprpersonifiedHeaven (as an agent overseeing what happens on earth)
  • 乾 gān (OC: kaan MC: kɑn) 古寒切 平 廣韻：【乾古文 】

    Additional information about 乾

    說文解字: 【乾】，上出也。从乙，乙，物之達也。倝聲。 【渠焉切，又古寒切】 【𠄊】，籒文乾。 〔小徐本「乾」下有「如此」二字。〕

      Criteria
    • DRY

      1. The common general term for dryness is zào 燥 (ant. shī 濕 "wet").

      2. Gǎo 槁 and kū 枯 (ant. rùn 潤 "lush") are common words referring specifically to dryness of trees and sometimes other plants.

      3. Hé/hào 涸 (ant. mǎn 滿 "full of water") views dryness as the result of a process of dissication.

      4. Gān 乾 (ant. shī 濕 "wet") focusses on the striking and complete absence of liquid.

      5. Jié 渴 merely emphasises insufficient water supply or exhaustion of water supplies.

      6. Jiāo 焦 adds to the notion of dryness that of exceesive heat.

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    • EARTH

      1. The current general term for the earth or land is dì 地 (ant. tiān 天 "Heaven").

      2. Kūn 坤 (ant. qián 乾 is a metaphysical way of referring to Earth as an agentive principle.

      3. Lù 陸 (ant. shuǐ 水 ) refers to land versus river or sea areas.

    • FEMALE

      1. The current general word for a female of any species is cí 雌 (ant. xióng 雄 "male").

      2. Nu# 女 (ant. nán 男 "male") refers specifically to human females.

      3. Pìn 牝 (ant. mǔ 牡 "male") refers to specifically to females of animals.

      4. Zì 牸 refers to females of buffalo, but sometimes also of tiger, rhinoceros, or horse.

      5. Mǔ 母 (ant. gōng 公 "male") refers to adult females of some species, including spirits. NB incidentally: Mǔ jī 母雞 is current, while mǔ niǎo 母鳥 does not seem to be found.

      6. Kūn 坤 (ant. qián 乾 "metaphysically: male") is a metaphysical way of characterising things as belonging to the female realm. (NB incidentally and irrelevantly as a modern Chinese reflex kūn biǎo 坤錶 "women's watch".)

    • SKY

      1. The current word for the sky, and for Heaven, is tiān 天 (ant. dì 地 "earth").

      2. Qián 乾 (ant. kūn 坤 "metaphysical: Earth") is a learned "metaphyisical" way of referring to Heaven.

      3. Cāng 蒼 is a poetic word for blue sky, but the word is not apparently attested in pre-Buddhist texts.

      Word relations
    • Ant: (DRY)濕 / 濕/MOIST Shī 濕 refers to wetness as a property of surface or of the whole object.
    • Ant: (DRY)興/FLOURISH
    • Assoc: (DRY)燥/DRY The common general term for dryness is zào 燥 (ant. shī 濕 "wet").
    • Assoc: (DRY)燥/DRY The common general term for dryness is zào 燥 (ant. shī 濕 "wet").