Taxonomy of meanings for 單:　　

Additional information about 單

說文解字: 【單】，大也。从吅、吅亦聲。闕。 【都寒切】

Criteria
• ALONE
  

  [GENERAL/SPECIFIC]

  [NEGATIVE/POSITIVE]

  1. Dān 單 (ant. qún 群 "in a group") has no emotional nuances and simply refers to the single member of a set.

  [GENERAL]

  2. Dú 獨 (ant. ǒu 偶 "as a pair") usually has no nuances of loneliness, but can sometimes come to connote an intense feeling of personal uniqueness. (LAO)

  [GENERAL], [NEGATIVE!]

  3. Gū 孤 (ant. zhòng 眾 "as a large group", but this lacks the emotional nuance of the counterpart) tends to connote feelings of loneliness and/or of being bereaved or suffering under the absence of associates in the place where one is.

  [NEGATIVE+]

  4. Tè 特 "alone" (etymologically related to dān 單 ) is abstract and conceptual and often emphasises the positively valued absence of other members in a general set.

  [POSITIVE!]

  5. Guǎ 寡 refers to the state of being alone ore bereaved which is currently referred to in polite speech by rulers. See also BEREAVED.

  [NEGATIVE]

• MANY
  

  1. The dominant word referring to numerousness and a large quantity of a stuff is duō 多 (ant. shǎo 少 ).

  2. Zhòng 眾 (ant. guǎ 寡 "few") and zhū 諸 refer to a large number of items of a certain kind.

  3. Shù 庶 (ant. shǎo 少 "few") refers to a large number of typically animate and preferably human beings.

  4. Fēn 紛 and the rarer yún yún 紜紜 refer to a confusing assembly of many things.

  5. Shù 數 (ant.* dú 獨 "the only one" or * dān 單 ) refers to a fairly large number of things of a specified kind.

  6. Fán 繁 refers to a large number of proliferating things.

  7. Zhēng 烝 is a poetic word characterising the large size of a population.

• RULER
  

  1. The current general word for a person in charge of or senior to others is zhǔ 主 (ant. pú 僕 "servant").

  2. Jūn 君 (ant. chén 臣 "minister") refers specifically to someone who is politically or administratively in charge of others as a ruler.

  3. Wáng 王 (contrast bà 霸 "hegemon basing his role on power rather than moral authority") refers specifically to someone who is enfeoffed as a formal ruler of what counts as a state in ancient China.

  4. Gōng 公 has many related meaning, but when following after the name of a state the word refers specifically to the ruler of an enfeoffed kingdom under the Son of Heaven who belongs to the royal lineage. After personal names, or used absolutely, the word may generally refer to to rulers of any rank and might be fastidiously translated as "his lordship".

  5. Hóu 侯 refers specifically to someone who is enfeoffed with a kingdom (or by Han times a minor administrative area) by the Son of Heaven as a hereditary feudal lord.

  6. Bà 霸 (contr. wáng 王 "regular king"), sometimes also written 伯 refers to a person who is in actual control of an area and specifically to one who acts as the leader of the feudal lords, and the term is sometimes used pejoratively for a "tyrant" caring for his own interests rather than those of his subordinates.

  7. Lìng 令 refers specifically to someone who is controlling a xiàn 縣 by order of a king.

  8. Shǒu 守 refers specifically to someone who is controlling a jùn 郡 by order of the emperor.

  9. Mù 牧 refers specifically to someone who is controlling a zhōu 州 by order of the emperor in Eastern Han times.

  10. Shàng 上 can refer to any governing authority or ruler, but by Han times the word became a standard polite way of referring to the Han emperor.

  11. Chán-yú 單于 refers specifically to the ruler of the Xiōngnú 匈奴. Cf. the Tang term kēhān 可汗 "Khan".

  12. Háo 豪 refers to a person of power but without formally recognised bureaucratic status.

  13. Kuí 魁 refers to a powerful popular leader unrecognised by government.

Word relations
• Ant: (ALONE)複/TWO double