Taxonomy of meanings for 制:　　

Additional information about 制

說文解字:

Criteria
• STANDARD
  

  1. The current general words for a standard to be followed is guī 規.

  2. The current word referring specifically to physical standards and measurements is dù 度.

  3. The current general word for abstract moral standards is jié 節.

  4. Cháng 常 focusses on the lasting effectiveness of a standard.

  5. Cao 操 refers to a standard as a technique to be mastered and then exercised.

  6. Zhì 制 refers to a system in general. See SYSTEM

• PRINCIPLE
  

  1. Lǐ 理 refers to inherent structuring patterns of things.

  2. Zé 則 refers to a rule or pattern to be followed.

  3. Fǎ 法 (often: "model, method, procedure, law" can refer to a man-made rule pattern or rule, never a "law of nature" and rarely a pattern set by nature.

  4. Zhì 制 refers to a humanly instituted system of principles and rules.

  5. Yào 要 refers to the single underlying most important principle that governs something.

  6. Jīng 經 refers to a basic guideline that one might prefer to follow.

• DECREE
  

  1. The current general word for an edict or decree is zhào 詔.

  2. Mìng 命 (later often replaced by lìng 令 ) refers to any published royal or imperial order, or order of the day. See COMMAND and FATE

  3. Zhì 制 is a Qin technical term for a published imperial decision.

  4. Cè 策 is a Han edict appointing a king or feudal lord and investing him with a piece of territory.

  5. Chì 敕 is a Han edict concerning local affairs to be distibuted in the provinces.

  6. Jiè 戒 refers to a formal announcement from the Son of Heaven, typically in the form of a general warning.

  7. Diǎn 典 is an archaic word referring to edicts by the Son of Heaven.

• SYSTEM
  

  制度 refers to a legal system.

• CONTROL
  

  1. The most current general word in this group is zhì 制 (ant. zòng 縱 "give free rein to"), which refers to all kinds of control, political, physical, as well as psychological.

  2. Zhì 治 refers to the orderly and principled long-term control of something.

  3. Yù 御 refers to the exercise of sovereign unchallenged control over.

  4. Guǎn 管 and zhǎng 掌 refer to the concrete practical control over something large or small.

  5. Shàn 擅 refers to gaining or having unlegitimised sole control of something. See MONOPOLISE

  6. Zhuān 專 refers to having sole control, typically of some administrative function. See MONOPOLISE

  7. Bà 霸 refers to dominating and controlling something through a supreme display of power. See also RULER

• LAW
  

  1. The current general word for a law, a legal system or any legal provision of any kind is fǎ 法.

  2. Lu �律 is far more specialised as a specific term referring to concrete and detailed regulations rather than a legal system as a whole, and the word is also syntactically much less flexible. Thus we have 先王之法 and not 先王之律.

  The complexities of legal terminology can be preliminarily summarised as follows:

  A. The rule may be explicit (chéng 程, diǎn 典, fǎ 法, hào 號, lu �律 ); or it may be primarily conventional (cháng 常, jì 紀, jīng 經, zhì 制 ).

  B. The rule may be conceived as temporary (lìng 令, dù 度, chéng 程, hào 號 ); or it may be conceived as permanent and unchangeable (cháng 常, diǎn 典, jì 紀, jīng 經 ); or it may be conceived as long-term but clearly changeable (fǎ 法, lu �律, xiàn 憲, zhāng 章, zhì 制 ).

  C. The rules may concern legal and economic administration (chéng 程, diǎn 典, dù 度, lu �律, xiàn 憲, zhāng 章, zhì 制, and occasionally fǎ 法 ); or they may concern prohibitions of criminal conduct (fǎ 法, pì 辟, xíng 刑 ); or they may be general moral guidelines on conduct (cháng 常, hào 號, lìng 令, jì 紀 ).

  D. The focus may be on the written documents containing the rules as such (diǎn 典, xiàn 憲, zhāng 章 ); or the focus may be on the content of the rules (cháng 常, chéng 程, dù 度, lìng 令, zhì 制 ); or the primary focus may be on oral promulgation of the rule (hào 號 ).

  E. The rules may be regarded as a collective system (cháng 常, jì 紀, jīng 經, zhì 制 ); or they may be conceived as individual legal prescriptions (all others).

• COMMAND
  

  1. The standard current word for a command is lìng 令, and the content (not the words) of the command is typically in the sentence that follows. We do not find: 令曰, and it is significant that lìng 令 also regularly means "to cause to".

  2. Mìng 命 is typically an order from a person of high, perhaps even supernatural, authority, and what follows are often the words used to express the order. 命曰. Mìng 命 is an order on a higher level than lìng 令.

  3. Shǐ 使 often refers to a superior getting or sending subordinates to do something by an order, but this word never focusses on the form of words used. See SEND, CAUSE TO

  4. Zhì 制 is a formalised administrative instruction on procedure.

  5. Huī 麾 is an order given prototypically by signal of the hand, and in the process of a battle.

  6. Hào 號 is a publicly proclaimed political command or instruction.

  7. Wèi 謂 is simply a way of telling someone to do something, informally or formally, but without the formal force of a rigid order.

  8. Chì 敕 / 飭 is an order from a person in an elevated position, and in post-Buddhist times chì 敕 came to refer standardly to imperial orders.

• PRODUCE
  

  1. The most common word for producing something is wéi 為.

  2. Chéng 成 focusses on the completion of the process and its success.

  3. Zhì 治 focusses on the orderliness of the result.

  4. Chǎn 產 focusses on the act of production as typically informed by professionalism.

  5. Zào 造 refers to the production of something like a carriage through craftsmanship.

  6. Zhì 制 refers primarily to the production of clothes, but the word later came to refer to all manner of production of artifacts.

• ESTABLISH
  

  1. The current general word for setting up anything abstract or concrete is lì 立 and the almost equally common shè 設.

  2. Jiàn 建 refers to bringing something into existence through a comprehensive concerted effort.

  3. Jù 具 refers to establishing or setting up what is necessary in a certain context.

  4. Zhì 制 refers to set up institutionally a system.

  5. Cuò 錯 / 措 and zhì 置 (ant. feì 廢 "remove from its proper place") refer to putting something solidly and firmly in its proper place.

  6. Shù 樹 refers to planting or establishing something firmly where one intends it to remain.

Word relations
• Ant: (CONTROL)服/OBEY Fú 服 (ant. jiàng 強 "stubbornly refuse") is to submit to higher authority through obedience to its orders, and this submission may be either voluntary or enforced by circumstances.
• Epithet: (CONTROL)專/MONOPOLISE Zhuān 專 emphasises that one takes exclusive control, by whatever means. 1 Attribution
• Assoc: (CONTROL)威/POWER The dominant general words for power are wēi 威 "formidable authority" and shì 勢 "strategic position of power". 1 Attribution
• Assoc: (ESTABLISH)定/FIX The current general word for fixing something in any objective and interpersonal way, concrete or abstract is dìng 定.
• Assoc: (LAW)法/LAW The current general word for a law, a legal system or any legal provision of any kind is fǎ 法. 2 Attributions
• Assoc: (DECREE)令/DECREE1 Attribution
• Oppos: (CONTROL)制於/CONTROL1 Attribution