Taxonomy of meanings for 喻:　　

  • 喻 yù (OC: los MC: jio) 羊戍切 去 廣韻：【同諭 】
    • EXPLAIN
      • vtoNexplain, make fully clear
      • vt(oN)make one's point about the contextually determinate thing
      • vtoNPab{S}express that S
      • nabdiscursive explanationCH
      • vtoNconativetry to explain something (often using examples, metaphors etc.)DS
      • vtt[oN1.]+N2explain the relevant contextually determinate things N1 to N2CH
      • vt[oN]modalbe able to fully express what one meansLZ
      • generalised: inform>REPORT
          • object: one's debt>THANK
          • and contrast>COMPARE
            • vtoNillustrate through a comparison; make one's meaning plain; analogy compare to
            • vt+prep+Ncompare to; be a metaphor for
            • vt+prep+Npassivebe illustrated by
            • nabtextillustration; illustrative story, parable
            • nabderivedrhetorical: metaphor, metaphorical meaningCH
          • in order to help>ADVICE
            • causative>SHOW
                • result>UNDERSTAND
                  • vt+prep+Nderive one's proper understand of things from (something)
                  • vt(oN)inchoativecome to understand the contextually determinate matter (typically after an explanation has been made)DS
                  • vtoNpassivebe understoodLZ
                  • nabsudden insight; sudden understandingDS
                • means>EXAMPLE
              • =愉HAPPY
                • SURNAME

                Additional information about 喻

                說文解字:

                  Criteria
                • EXPLAIN

                  1. The current general word for a discursive "analytical" explanation of something that is not sufficiently clear in itself is shuō 說.

                  2. Yán 言 refers to the explicit articulation of something, and the emphasis often is on the initiative taken to undertake this explanation.

                  3. Chén 陳 refers to the laying out of something clearly so as to make it accessible to an overview and a clear understanding of the contents of what is laid out, and the social context is typically that of an inferior laying something out for superiors.

                  4. Míng 明 is to throw intellectual light on something by any means, including illustration as well as historical explanation or definition.

                  5. Yù 喻 / 諭 refers to making clear to others what is very clear to oneself, and the means is often comparsion or illustration, yù 諭 tending to be used for making something clear through words in later texts, and yù 喻 for explanation by comparison or metaphor.

                  6. Jiě 解 refers primarily to the unravelling of something that would appear convoluted and non-transparent without the effort of intellectual unravelling.

                  7. Shì 釋 is late and refers to explanation with special reference to individual difficult points.

                  8. Shù 述 refers to laying out for others what oneself or others have done or said in the past.

                  9. Xù 敘 refers to laying out something in an orderly manner, often in conversation with equals and in a confidential context, and the word became current in Han times.

                • UNDERSTAND

                  1. The standard current and word for understanding something and knowing how to do something is zhī 知 (ant. mèi 昧 "not have the foggiest idea").

                  2. Míng 明 (ant. měng 蒙 "have very confused notions about") refers to incisive clarity of insight.

                  3. Tōng 通 (ant. hūn 昏 "be confused about") refers to comprehensive and thorough familiarity with a subject.

                  4. Yù 喻 / 諭 (ant. àn 闇 "be in the dark about") typically refers to clarity achieved on the basis of an effort of articulation.

                  5. Chá 察 and shěn 審 (ant. mí 迷 "be all lost when it comes to") refer to incisive clarity of understanding coupled with great awareness of the details of a matter.

                  6. Jīng 精 (mào 眊 / 耄 "be completely stupid with respect to") refers to a subtle and thorough understanding of something.

                  7. Shí 識 refers to familiarity with something concrete, but the word also refers to simple awareness, especially when negated.

                  8. Biàn 辨 / 辯 (ant. huò 惑 "be al confused about") refers to discriminating and highly articulate specialised, often professional knowledge about something.

                  9. Jué 覺 and the rarer wù 悟 are inchoative and refer to the coming to understand something.

                  10. Wēn 溫 refers to the resulting close familiarity after long acquaintance with a subject.

                  11. Wén 聞 (ant. wèi zhī wén 未之聞 "have never heard/learnt about any such thing") is sometimes used as a resultative verb meaning "come to understand something because one has been informed of it". But this usage is limited to the idiom wén dào 聞道 "hear about the Way".

                  12. Xī 悉 and jìn 盡 refer to presumed completeness in knowledge.

                • COMPARE

                  1. The standard word for lining up things for comparison is bǐ 比, and the comparison may be expressed in language or pure psychological. Any two things compared may often be of similar importance to the person who is doing the comparing.

                  2. Yù 喻 is to illustrate a point by the rhetorical means of comparison (and thus make one's meaning clear).

                  3. Pì 譬 is close in meaning to bǐ 比, but the word always refers to comparisons that are made linguistically explicit, and there is always one thing (typically something hard to understand) which is illustrated by something else that is much easier to understand. Syntactically, pì 譬 is special in that it standardly takes the object pronoun zhī 之.

                  Word relations