Taxonomy of meanings for 侯:　　

  • 侯 hóu (OC: ɡoo MC: ɦəu) 戶鉤切 平 廣韻：【候也何也美也辝也爾雅曰父侯君也又乃也又周禮司裘氏王大射則共虎侯熊侯豹侯諸侯則共熊侯豹侯卿大夫則共麋侯皆設其鵠鄭司農云方十尺曰侯四尺曰鵠説文本作矦从人从厂象張布之狀矢在其下又姓出上谷河南二望亦漢複姓八氏夏侯氏出自夏禹之後杞簡公爲楚所滅其弟佗奔魯魯悼公以佗出自夏后氏受爵爲侯謂之夏侯因而命氏後有去魯之沛者分沛立譙遂有譙魯二望羅國爲楚所滅其後号羅侯氏韓詩外傳云周宣王大夫韓侯子有賢德史記魏有屈侯鮒左傳曹有豎侯孺漢有尚書郎栢侯雋吴有張昭師白侯子安又虜三字姓二氏周書有侯莫陳氏侯崇傳云其先魏之别部也又周有大將軍伏侯龍氏名恩戸鉤切二十四 】
    • RANK
        • RULER
          • nas in 諸侯: enfeoffed ruler in early Zhou times;
          • nadNgoverned by a hóu "Marquis"
          • npost-N{PLACE}Marquis of N 齊侯
          • npost-N{PLACE}.+NprNpr, the Marqujis of Npl 蔡侯申
          • npostNpr.post-N{PLACE}Marquis Npr of Npl 蔡桓侯
          • npostNprMarquis Npr 哀侯
          • ntitleas in 齊侯 "marquis of Qi2" (Note incidentally: there never was any Duke of Qi2): marquis (The descending hierarchical order was 公侯伯子男.)
          • grammaticalised> YOU
            • STATE
              • nmarquisate
        • in excavated texts> THEN
            • time sequence> THEREUPON
              • padS1.post-S2and thereuponCH
          • in excavated texts> WHY
            • padSwhyCH
          • in excavated texts> BECAUSE
            • vtoSbe because of SCH
          • in excavated texts> MODAL PARTICLE
            • =?> TARGET
              • nsquare target for archery
            • personal names> RULERS OF JIN

              Additional information about 侯

              說文解字:

                Criteria
              • RULER

                1. The current general word for a person in charge of or senior to others is zhǔ 主 (ant. pú 僕 "servant").

                2. Jūn 君 (ant. chén 臣 "minister") refers specifically to someone who is politically or administratively in charge of others as a ruler.

                3. Wáng 王 (contrast bà 霸 "hegemon basing his role on power rather than moral authority") refers specifically to someone who is enfeoffed as a formal ruler of what counts as a state in ancient China.

                4. Gōng 公 has many related meaning, but when following after the name of a state the word refers specifically to the ruler of an enfeoffed kingdom under the Son of Heaven who belongs to the royal lineage. After personal names, or used absolutely, the word may generally refer to to rulers of any rank and might be fastidiously translated as "his lordship".

                5. Hóu 侯 refers specifically to someone who is enfeoffed with a kingdom (or by Han times a minor administrative area) by the Son of Heaven as a hereditary feudal lord.

                6. Bà 霸 (contr. wáng 王 "regular king"), sometimes also written 伯 refers to a person who is in actual control of an area and specifically to one who acts as the leader of the feudal lords, and the term is sometimes used pejoratively for a "tyrant" caring for his own interests rather than those of his subordinates.

                7. Lìng 令 refers specifically to someone who is controlling a xiàn 縣 by order of a king.

                8. Shǒu 守 refers specifically to someone who is controlling a jùn 郡 by order of the emperor.

                9. Mù 牧 refers specifically to someone who is controlling a zhōu 州 by order of the emperor in Eastern Han times.

                10. Shàng 上 can refer to any governing authority or ruler, but by Han times the word became a standard polite way of referring to the Han emperor.

                11. Chán-yú 單于 refers specifically to the ruler of the Xiōngnú 匈奴. Cf. the Tang term kēhān 可汗 "Khan".

                12. Háo 豪 refers to a person of power but without formally recognised bureaucratic status.

                13. Kuí 魁 refers to a powerful popular leader unrecognised by government.

              • STATE

                1. The dominant word is guó 國, and the word naturally focusses on the capital which defines the identity of the state, but from Warring States times the word does refer to the whole of the territory, as the term guó xiāo 國削 "the state was truncated" shows.

                2. Bāng 邦 is an area-orientated old word referring to an extended state (see the early 大邦 ) without emphasising the leading role of a capital in that state, and the word was increasingly replaced by guó 國 even before taboo rules related to the name of Liú Bāng had their impact.

                3. Tǔ 土 refers to territory as such, and occasionally comes to refer to the territory of a certain state, including one's own.

                4. Fāng 方 refers to a region other than one's own state, and note particularly the old phrase 方國.

                5. Tiān xià 天下 refers to the inhabited earth construed as dominated by the emperor or Son of Heaven, but by extension the expression also refers collectively to the the central states governed by the zhū hóu 諸侯. (NOTE THAT THE EMPIRE OF CHINA WAS NOT REGARDED AS A STATE.)

                6. Guó jiā 國家 refers to the nation as a social institution dominated by a certain clan. See NATION.

                7. Yì 邑 "capital" occasionally comes to refer to the state dominated by a certain city, its capital.

                Word relations