Taxonomy of meanings for 冕:　　

Additional information about 冕

說文解字: 【冕】，大夫以上冠也，邃延垂瑬紞纊。 〔小徐本「紞纊」作「纊紞」。〕 从冃、免聲。古者黃帝初作冕。 【亡辡切】 【絻】，冕或从糸。 〔小徐本無「冕」。〕

Criteria
• OFFICIAL HAT
  

  1. Miǎn 冕 refers specifically to the ceremonial hat worn by the emperor or the highest officials on the occasion of sacrifices, feasts and other special occasions. The kinds of miǎn 冕 worn were distinguished by rank.

  2. Biàn 弁 refers to the ceremonial hats worn as signs of their dignity, on lesser occasions, by high officials including the emperor himself, and often this is specified as a pí biàn 皮弁.

  3. Gǔn 袞 refers to the special official hat worn by the emperor, and the word is quite rare. In fact the word comes close to the meaning of "crown", except that no metal was involved.

• HAT
  

  1. The general word for headdress designed to indicate status is guān 冠, and the practical purpose of this hat is not only to indicate status but also to hold together the bun of hair on the top of the head. At the age of twenty all males acquired the right to wear a guān 冠. The hat was held in position by a cord called yīng 纓.

  2. The general word for convenient headdress designed to keep the head warm is mào 帽 but this term is rarely used on its own, being usually modified by further descriptive terms. This headdress became current first in Three Kingdom times, but the felt hat is mentioned in FENGSUTONGYI.

  3. Miǎn 冕 is the general word for an official hat. See OFFICIAL HAT

Word relations
• Assoc: (OFFICIAL HAT)服/COURT DRESS The general ancient term for formal dress, for what one is wearing when properly dressed up is fú 服. 1 Attribution
• Assoc: (OFFICIAL HAT)軒/CARRIAGE The most general word for high class means of personal transport is perhaps xuān 軒, but see chē 車 in the more general VEHICLE. 4 Attributions