Taxonomy of meanings for 刃:　　

Additional information about 刃

說文解字: 【刃】，刀堅也。象刀有刃之形。凡刃之屬皆从刃。 【而振切】

Criteria
• BLADE
  

  1. The general current word for the cutting edge of an instrument is rèn 刃.

  2. Ruì 銳 refers to the sharp point of a weapon which normally does not have an edge.

  3. Fēng 鋒 refers to the sharp point at the end of the edge of a weapon.

  NB: máng 鋩 "sharp point of a weapon" is not current in pre-Buddhist Chinese.

• SWORD
  

  1. Jiàn 劍 refers to the weapon with two edges which can be worn on a belt. Sword became common in China relatively late; although short bronze swords were widely used in northeastern China from Shang till early Chunqiu period, there are only few pieces known from the graves of the Western Zhou and Chunqiu aristocracy. In the middle and late Chunqiu period bronze swords came to be wider used particularly in the southern states of Wu, Yue, and Chu; the earliest textual evidence I have found for the word also dates from this period (MOZI and inscriptions on the swords of Wu and Yue). In Warring States times sword became usual weapon. Iron swords for the first time appeared in the late Chunqiu period and by the early Han completely replaced bronze pieces. Note that in Han times both aristocrats and officials worn swords like symbols of their status.

  2. Rèn 刃 refers to the blade and generally to the weapons with a blade including sword.

• KILL
  

  1. The overwhelmingly dominant term referring to any form of taking the life of anything is shā 殺.

  2. Some words specify the range of objects murdered: Thus shì 弒 refers to the killing of a reigning ruler, zhū 誅 and yí 夷 refer to the killing of a convicted criminal; zǎi 宰 and tú3 屠 refer primarily to the slaughtering of animals for the purpose of food production.

  3. Some words specify the number of objects killed: yí 夷, zú 族, jiān 殲 tú 屠 (when applied to humans) refer to the killing of groups of people. See PUNISHMENT. The other words refer normally to the killing of one person or a specified set of several persons.

  4. Some words specify modes of killing: cì 刺 is to murder by stabbing with a pointed object, typically a dagger; liè 裂 and jiě 解 refer to dismembering by a wide variety of methods; zhèn 鴆 refers to poisoning; jǐng 剄 refers to cutting the throat; xī 腊 refers to killing followed by making a person into minced meat; rèn 刃 is to kill with a sword; jiǎo 絞 and yì 縊 refer to strangulation, è4 mèi 扼昧 and refer to strangulation; è 餓 can refer to starving someone to death. For a more detailed account of the varieties of death penalties in ancient China see PUNISHMENT.

Word relations
• Epithet: (BLADE)白/NAKED Bái 白 in connection with the terms for body parts can also refer to the nakedness. 3 Attributions
• Assoc: (SWORD)兵/WEAPON Bīng 兵 refers to warfare as a military practice rather than as a political means to achieve ends, and it is significant that the word has no obvious antonym. 1 Attribution
• Assoc: (WEAPON)革/ARMOUR7 Attributions