Taxonomy of meanings for 吟:　　

Additional information about 吟

說文解字: 【吟】，呻也。从口、今聲。 【魚音切】 【䪩】，吟或从音。 【訡】，或从言。

Criteria
• SONG
  

  1. The current general word for a song with or without accompanying music of any kind is gē 歌.

  2. Shī 詩 refers to a regularly rhymed song with a generally regular number of syllables per line.

  3. Fēng 風 refers to a folk song with a given melody.

  4. Fù 賦 refers originally to any narrative or descriptive song in early texts but came to refer to the genre of rhyme prose.

  5. Yáo 謠 refers to a folksong, mostly in ancient texts to a children's ditty, with a more or less fixed melody, but the focus seems to be on the text and there is no accompanying music involved.

  6. O!u 謳 is a dialect word (state of Qi) referring to popular work-songs with a more or less fixed melody.

  7. Yín 吟 is occasionally used, from late Han and Three Kingdoms times onwards, as a noun and refers to a popular song.

• SIGH
  

  1. The current general word for any kind of sigh or groan is tàn 歎.

  2. Tài xí 太息 refers to sighing not as a sign of distress but of any heightened emotion.

  3. Kuì rán 喟然 refers almost onomatopoetically to the sound of sighing.

  4. Shēn 呻 refers to a slow and drawn-out sigh, according to tradition.

  5. Yín 吟 refers, according to tradition, to a somewhat shorter and more eruptive sigh.

  6. Wǎn 惋 refers to a sigh expressive of distress.

  7. Jiē 嗟 refers typically to a demonstrative sigh (or occasionally even lamentation), but this demonstrative sigh can also signify admiration.

  8. Kài 慨 refers to an intense sigh of heightened emotion of any kind.

  9. Xī xū 欷歔 and the earlier xū xī 歔欷 refer to tearful sighs of distress.

• CHANT
  

  1. The current word for chanting poetry in a deeply emotional manner for the benefit of others is yǒng 詠;

  2. The current word for chanting prose aloud for the benefit of others is sòng 誦, and the prose chanted normally has to be of high cultural status.

  3. F1ē3ng 諷 refers specifically to (possibly reading out and) reciting what one is familiar with and may even know by heart. (Old reading fèng!)

  4. Fù 賦 refers to the recital of poetry of any kind, commonly even one's own works.

  5. Yín 吟 is to hum and quietly intone something for one's own enjoyment, perhaps as one walks along, typically as an expression of one's emotions, and not primarily for others to listen to, and the word is never used as a transitive verb with an object indicating what exactly is being hummed or intoned.

  6. Shēn 呻 is to mournfully hum poetry to oneself.

  7. Zàn 贊 refers to the ritual reading out of a prescribed liturgical text on formal occasions.

  8. Chàng 唱 refers to dramatic loud and drawn-out recital of prose texts. See SING

  See also READ

• ANSWER
  

  [ASCENDING/HORIZONTAL/DESCENDING]

  [COMMON/RARE]

  [FAST/SLOW]

  1. The dominant general word for responding to something that has been addressed to one is duì 對 (converse wèi 謂 "address"), but that word usually refers to a reply directed at a superior who has put a question or occasionally a response to a statement by a superior.

  [ASCENDING], [GENERAL]

  2. Dá 答 (ant. jīn 吟 ( 口字旁加金字 ) 而不答 "not answer") refers to an immediate unpremeditated reply.

  [ASCENDING], [FAST]

  3. Yìng 應 (ant. 喑 "keep quiet") is to come up with an immediate reaction of which the linguistic reply is a central part.

  [FAST]; [[RARE]]

  4. Chóu 酬 can occasionally refer to a polite formal reply.

  [FORMAL], [POLITE]; [[RARE]]

Word relations
• Epithet: (SIGH)長/ENDURING Cháng 長 (ant. duǎn 短 "of short duration") expresses bounded enduringness with a definite final point being typically imagined, although in cháng shēng 長生 the word refers to an unending long life. 1 Attribution
• Contrast: (CHANT)歌/SING The current general word for singing a song is gē 歌. 1 Attribution
• Assoc: (CHANT)呻/CHANT Shēn 呻 is to mournfully hum poetry to oneself. 1 Attribution
• Assoc: (CHANT)歌/SING The current general word for singing a song is gē 歌. 1 Attribution
• Assoc: (CHANT)謠/SING O!u 謳 and the rarer yáo 謠 refer specifically to unaccompanied singing of songs, typically folk songs. 1 Attribution
• Assoc: (CHANT)謳/SING Ōu 謳 and the rarer yáo 謠 refer specifically to unaccompanied singing of songs, typically folk songs. 1 Attribution