Taxonomy of meanings for 凶:　　

Additional information about 凶

說文解字: 【凶】，惡也。象地穿交陷其中也。 〔小徐本無「也」。〕 凡凶之屬皆从凶。 【許容切】

Criteria
• LOVE
  

  1. The clearly dominant word referring to love is ài 愛 (ant. hèn 恨 "dislike"; rarely zēng 憎 "dislike"; and wù 惡 "hate"), and this word refers both to the feelings of love and to the expression of love in loving care for another person as well as in sexual relations. (Occasionally, the word may refer to the emotional preference that a small child feels for its parents. For this meaning see PREFER.)

  2. Cí 慈 (ant. xiōng 凶 "vicious") refers to loving care, prototypically by mothers for minors or their offspring. When the word refers to ordinary love, it always connotes a high degree of intensity of the caring emotion.

  3. Tì 悌 refers to love between brothers, particularly the love one owes one's eldest brother, and the word is rarely extended to mean brotherly as opposed to erotic or commiserating love.

  4. Xiào 孝 refers to loving respect for one's parents and ancestors in attitude and action, and is a major traditional virtue.

  5. Chǒng 寵 refers to enjoying the attentions and/or affections of a superior.

  6. Xìng 幸 "give sexual favours to (a subject)" and xìng yú 幸於 "enjoy the sexual favours of (a ruler) refer to love sexually expressed.

  7. Bì 嬖 refers to the enjoying of favourite status with a superior, and the term often connotes sexual relations, occasionally even of the homosexual kind.

  8. Mù 慕 prototypically refers to loving devotion of a distant kind, but the word is also used in a more generalised way to refer to affection.

  9. Hào 好 refers to love as a matter of a strong and habitual emotional preference for something. (See PREFER)

• WICKED
  

  1. The most current and general word for wickedness is probably è 惡 (ant. shàn 善 "good"), but it must be noted that in early texts the word is more current in the meaning of physical ugliness.

  2. Xié 邪 (ant. zhèng 正 "straight and in no way wicked") typically involves nuances of sinister evil influences in addition to plain human depravity.

  3. Suì 祟 (ant. xiáng 祥 "of the good innocuous kind") refers to sinister supernatural wicked forces operating in the human world.

  4. Yāo 妖 (ant. jí 吉 "of a generally auspicious nature") typically implies nuances of seductive or beguiling qualities coexisting with wickedness.

  5. Jiān 姦 (ant. liáng 良 "of the good sort, decent") refers to sheer human depravity with no supernatural or sinister overtones.

  6. Chǒu 醜 (ant. měi 美 "of commendable moral quality") often refers to something rather like moral ugliness and depravity in early texts, but from Han times onwards the word comes to refer to physical ugliness].

  7. Qū 曲 (ant. duān 端 "straight and unwarped") refers to warped crookedness and lack of moral straightness.

  8. Wú 污 (ant. jié 潔 "morally pure and spotless") refers to moral defilement or moral impurity.

  9. Liè 劣 (ant. ) refers to moral inferiority as opposed to excellence.

  10. Pì 僻 (ant. ) refers to

  11. Jiāo 姣 refers to wickedness coupled with cunning, scheming and malice.

  12. Xiǎn 險 is occasionally used to refer to the type of wickedness that is a danger to the group or the state.

  13. Wāi 歪 (ant. zhí 直 "morally straight") refers to wickedness under the image of moral warpedness and and deviation from a straight proper norm.

  14. Xiōng 凶 refers to a baneful wickedness that bodes ill for the future.

  15. Chǐ 恥 refers to something that is a public disgrace. See SHAME.

• VIOLENT
  

  1. The current general word for violence in action and in disposition is měng 猛 (ant. nuò 懦 "weakish, pusillanimous") which refers quite generally to a disposition for incisive action and violent reaction without strong positive or negative overtones.

  2. Bào 暴 (ant. rén 仁 "humane") refers to negatively valued violence of disposition and action.

  3. Xiōng 凶 (ant. wēn 溫 "mild and bland") refers to violence as a psychological disposition and does not normally describe concrete pieces of behaviour.

  4. Hèng 橫 (ant. róu 柔 "considerate, non-provocative") emphasises the arbitrariness of violent response or violent disposition.

• AUSPICIOUS
  

  [ACTION/EVENT]

  [ARCHAIC/CURRENT]

  [GENERAL/SPECIFIC]

  1. The general term is jí 吉 (ant. xiōng 凶 "inauspicious") and refers to any natural phenomenon or supposed supernatural response that is of good omen, in an everyday almost secular way.

  [GENERAL]

  2. Xiáng 祥 tends to refer to the auspiciousness of human actions, but in its nominal usages it came to be used more generally for all tings that bode well or ill.

  [ACTION!]

  3. The archaising and elevated, mostly nominal, ruì 瑞 has specific religious connotations with rituals and the Will of Heaven.

  [ARCHAIC]

  NB: Xìng 幸 (ant. bù xìng 不幸 "unfortunate") is purely "secular", and often coincidental, good luck with no metaphysical or religious significance being attached to the term. See LUCKY

• DREAM
  

  1. The current standard word for a dream is mèng 夢.

  2. Xiōng mèng 凶夢 refers to a nightmare.

  ZHOULI 3 占夢：掌其歲時，觀天地之會，辨陰陽之氣。以日月星辰占六夢之吉凶，一曰正夢，二曰噩夢，三曰思夢，四曰寤夢，五曰喜夢，六曰懼夢。季冬，聘王夢，獻吉夢于王，王拜而受之。乃舍萌于四方，以贈惡夢，遂令始難驅疫。

• INAUSPICIOUS
  

  1. The current general word for what is of no good omen is xiōng 凶 (ant. jí 吉 ).

  2. Jiù 咎 is an archaic elevated terminus technicus for inauspiciousness used especially in divination literature.

  3. Yāo 妖 / 祅 refers to concrete inauspicious events like animal misfosters.

  4. Niè 孽 refers to inauspicious events, and the reference is said to be typically to botanic misfosters.

  5. Jìn 祲 refers to inauspicious supernatural influences.

  6. Bù xiáng 祥 is currently used to refer to inauspicious events.

• DISASTER
  

  1. The most common general word for disasters is huò 禍 (ant. fú 福 "good fortune") which has no connotations of any metaphysical kind. (In OBI the character currently transcribed as huò 禍 - and closely related to 占 - refers not only to disasters as such, but particularly to disastrous omens.)

  2. Zāi 災 refers to a natural disaster, typically sent down by Heaven.

  3. Huàn 患 refers to any major or minor disaster, even down to minor irritations.

  4. Yāng 殃 always refers to major natural disasters, often construed as causes by human misdemeanour, or by a failure to take preventive action.

  5. Niè 孽 often has heavy metaphysical connotations and refers to disasters as caused by higher powers acting with an intention to harm, but there are some clear cases where the word refers to man-made trouble in MENG.

  6. Nàn 難 refer to man-made disasters of every kind.

  7. Jí 急 is a disastrous or highly precarious situation that has occurred suddenly and requires urgent attention.

  8. Bù yú 不虞 is normally a minor disaster that was utterly unexpected.

  9. Xiōng 凶, shěng 眚 and jiù 咎 are archaic metaphysical terms for misfortunes.

  10. Hài 害 refers generally to harm, but in OBI the word standardly refers to harm done by supernatural powers or ancestors.

Word relations
• Ant: (DISASTER)利/PROFIT Lì 利 (1. ant. yì 義 "considerations of rectitude"(!!); 2. ant. hài 害 "damage and loss suffered") refers to material profit. 2 Attributions
• Ant: (INAUSPICIOUS)吉/AUSPICIOUS The general term is jí 吉 (ant. xiōng 凶 "inauspicious") and refers to any natural phenomenon or supposed supernatural response that is of good omen, in an everyday almost secular way. 7 Attributions
• Ant: (INAUSPICIOUS)祥/AUSPICIOUS Xiáng 祥 tends to refer to the auspiciousness of human actions, but in its nominal usages it came to be used more generally for all tings that bode well or ill.
• Ant: (INAUSPICIOUS)福/LUCK The dominant general word for good fortune is fú 福 (ant. huò 禍 "misfortune"), and the dominant general word for good luck is xìng 幸 (ant. yāng 殃 "misfortune"). 1 Attribution
• Epithet: (DISASTER)年/HARVEST The general old and current word for a harvest, particularly a good harvest is nián 年. 2 Attributions
• Epithet: (INAUSPICIOUS)旱/DROUGHT The current general word for wealther conditions of drought is hàn 旱. 2 Attributions
• Epithet: (INAUSPICIOUS)災 / 菑/DISASTER Zāi 災 refers to a natural disaster, typically sent down by Heaven. 1 Attribution
• Epithet: (DISASTER)禍/DISASTER The most common general word for disasters is huò 禍 (ant. fú 福 "good fortune") which has no connotations of any metaphysical kind. (In OBI the character currently transcribed as huò 禍 - and closely related to 占 - refers not only to disasters as such, but particularly to disastrous omens.) 3 Attributions
• Epithet: (INAUSPICIOUS)饑/HUNGRY Jī 饑 (NOT ANCIENTLY HOMOPHONOUS WITH 飢 in ancient Chinese), and the rarer jín 饉 as well as the very rare qiàn 歉 refer to insufficiency of food as a result of bad harvest. 2 Attributions
• Contrast: (WICKED)姦/WICKED Jiān 姦 (ant. liáng 良 "of the good sort, decent") refers to sheer human depravity and moral incompetence with no supernatural or sinister overtones.
• Assoc: (DISASTER)患/DISASTER Huàn 患 refers to any major or minor disaster, even down to minor irritations. 1 Attribution
• Assoc: (WICKED)惡/WICKED The most current and general word for wickedness is probably è 惡 (ant. shàn 善 "good"), but it must be noted that in early texts the word is more current in the meaning of physical ugliness. 1 Attribution
• Assoc: (INAUSPICIOUS)惡/DISASTER1 Attribution
• Assoc: (DISASTER)咎/DISASTER
• Assoc: (DISASTER)害/DISASTER Hài 害 refers generally to harm, but in OBI the word standardly refers to harm done by supernatural powers or ancestors.
• Assoc: (WICKED)惡/BAD The most general word for what is inferior and not commendable, morally, aesthetically or otherwise, is è 惡 (ant. měi 美 "commendable"), but this word is also used to refer more specifically to wickedness. See WICKED [GENERAL]
• Assoc: (DISASTER)禍/DISASTER The most common general word for disasters is huò 禍 (ant. fú 福 "good fortune") which has no connotations of any metaphysical kind. (In OBI the character currently transcribed as huò 禍 - and closely related to 占 - refers not only to disasters as such, but particularly to disastrous omens.) 1 Attribution
• Assoc: (DISASTER)禍/DISASTER The most common general word for disasters is huò 禍 (ant. fú 福 "good fortune") which has no connotations of any metaphysical kind. (In OBI the character currently transcribed as huò 禍 - and closely related to 占 - refers not only to disasters as such, but particularly to disastrous omens.)