Taxonomy of meanings for 奴:　　

  • 奴 nú (OC: naa MC: nuo) 乃都切 平 廣韻：【人之下也乃都切七 】
    • EGO
      • n[post-npro1.][post=npro2]I, your slave SSXY
    • SLAVE
      • nslave (of either sex); enslaved male (often a foreign prisoner or a criminal)
      • nfigurativethe slavish
      • nad.VtoNreference=objectas a slave 奴養,
      • nadVreference=subject(serve etc) like a slave SHIJI: 奴事之耳
      • vichangebecome a slave, make oneself into a slave
      • nadNcharacterised by slaveryDS
    • YOU
      • NP[post=npro_2]you, slave
    • SERVANT
      • STAGNANT
        • INSULT
          • SURNAMES
            • SUFFIX
              • = 駑
            • 奴 nú (OC: naa MC: nuo) 乃都切 平 廣韻：【奴古文 】

              Additional information about 奴

              說文解字: 【奴】，奴、婢，皆古之辠人也。 〔小徐本無「之」、「也」二字。〕 《周禮》曰：其奴，男子入于辠隸，女子入于舂藁。从女、从又。 〔小徐本「从女、从又」在「《周禮》曰」之前。〕 【臣鉉等曰：又，手也，持事者也。】 【乃都切】 【㚢】、古文奴从人。 〔小徐本此字次於「㚤」字之後。〕

                Criteria
              • 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.

              • SLAVE

                1. The standard general word for a dependent low-status servant or slave is nú 奴, and this word became quite currrent in Han times.

                2. Yì 役 tends to focus on the hard labour involved.

                3. Lǔ 虜 focusses prototypically on the prisoner-origins of a slave.

                4. Lì 隸 refers to slaves in an administrative bureaucratic way, and prototypically these menial workers are in public employment, being thus of higher status than mere shepherds or stable-boys in the countryside.

                5. Zānghuò 臧獲 is the standard exampe of the name of a slave.

                Slavery and servant-hood not always easy to distinguish, and this is for very interesting social reasons. A scheme for the place of menials in the status system is systematised in a crucial ZUO Zhao 7 passage:

                故王臣公，公臣大夫，大夫臣士，士臣皁，皁臣輿，輿臣隸，隸臣僚，僚臣僕，僕臣臺。

                馬有圉，牛有牧，