Taxonomy of meanings for 仙:　　

  • 仙 xiān (OC: sen MC: siɛn) 相然切 平 廣韻：【神仙釋名曰老而不死曰仙仙遷也遷入山也故字從人旁山相然切十二 】
    • DEITY
      • nccimmortals [By the way: is this used to refer to a single definite immortal?]
      • nadNimmortal
      • vichangebecome an immortal 仙者 "one who has become an immortal"
      • nadVanalogylike an immortal
      • nabactthe art of immortality; the way of immortality
  • 仙 ｘｉａｎ３《集韻》息淺切，上獮心。
    • =尟（鮮）

    Additional information about 仙

    說文解字:

      Criteria
    • DEITY

      1. The general designation for the spirits is guǐ shén 鬼神, and for the higher and lower spirits of Heaven and Earth it is shén qí 神祇.

      2. Guǐ 鬼 is very often a spirit of the deceased (See GHOST), but the word can also refer to nature spirits of all kinds.

      3. Shén 神 refers to the ethereal supernatural spirits of all kinds, primarily associated with heaven, but the word also refers to a righteous person who turns into such a spirit after death.

      4. Míng shén 明神 refers to the luminous elevated higher spirits, and it is significant that there are not míng guǐ 明鬼.

      5. Qí 祇 refers to the spirits of the earth.

      6. Yāo 妖 are wicked spirits, and jiān 姦 can be used in the same sense. See DEVIL.

      7. Xiān 仙 refers to ethereal divinised creatures of any kind, typically to those who have attained an eternal life on earth, and it is striking that the word gained currency first in Eastern Han times, and that the word is very common in the verbal meaning "become an immortal", whereas guǐ 鬼 is very rarely so used.

      Word relations
    • Assoc: (DEITY)神/SUPERNATURAL The general and very common term referring to whatever is supernatural or divine in any way, and thus superior to what is ordinarily human or natural, is shén 神.