Taxonomy of meanings for 存:　　

  • 存 cún (OC: sɡɯɯn MC: dzuon) 徂尊切 平 廣韻：【在也察也恤問也徂尊切五 】
    • BE IN
      • vt+prep+Nexist in; persist in
      • vtoNfigurativereside in; be directed towards; be preoccupied by
      • vttoN1.+prep+N2cause N1 to exist in N2
      • vt(+prep+N)persist in a contextually determinate place (also figuratively)LZ
      • causative> PUT
        • continuative> REMAIN
          • vt[oN]remain where one is; remain in place
          • abstract:in the world> EXIST
            • nabmetaphysicalcontinued existence
            • vibe (still) around (in a certain place)
            • vichangecome to exist, arise???
            • vt+prep+Nexist in NCH
            • inactive at ease> REST
              • continue> PERSIST
                • nabprocesssurvival, continued existence
                • vicontinuoussurvive; subsist, persist, continue to exist, remain
                • vtoNcausativecause to continue to exist; ensure the survival of, ensure the continued existence of
                • vtoNcausativebe made to continue to exist
                • v[adN]that which is due to persist or survive
                • among the living> LIVE
                  • vibe alive
                • in thought of> THINK
                    • acting to improve one's thinking of> INVESTIGATE
                      • vtoNreflexive.自investigate (onself)
                    • with anticipation> HOPE
                      • with empathy> SYMPATHY
                          • show that one thinks of> CONSOLE
                            • in action> SAFEGUARD
                              • vtoNcause to persist> cause to survive, preserve, safeguard
                              • vtoNcausativecause (oneself) to persist
                              • vttoN1.+prep+N2psychpreserver N1 in (oneself)
                              • vtoNfigurativepreserve from being discardedCH
                              • vt(oN)safeguard the contextually determinate NCH
                      • causative, abstract> ESTABLISH

                  Additional information about 存

                  說文解字: 【存】，恤問也。从子、才聲。 〔小徐本作「從子、在省。」〕 【徂尊切】

                    Criteria
                  • DEFEAT

                    1. The current general word for defeating someoneor some state in any form of battle is bài 敗.

                    2. Pò 破 (ant. quán 全 "leave intact") refers to a complete routing of an opponent.

                    3. Jìn 盡 refers to the complete annihilation of an opponent.

                    4. Fù 覆 refers to the inflicting of a major defeat with lasting effects on an army.

                    5. Qīng 傾 refers to the toppling of a system of government.

                    6. Wáng 亡 (ant. cún 存 "allow to survive") refers specifically to causing the discontinuation of a state.

                    7. Cuò 挫 refers specifically to inflicting a military defeat on an army.

                    8. Bài jī 敗績 refers to a major military defeat.

                    9. Fù 負 occasionally refers to a defeat suffered, but usually in the combination shèng fù 勝負, and as a verb it does not take objects or complements. See FAIL

                  • LIVE

                    1. The current standard word for being alive is shēng 生 (ant. sǐ 死 "be dead").

                    2. Cún 存 (ant. wáng 亡 ) and zài 在 (ant. mò 沒 / 歿 "go under") refer to continuing in the state of being alive, but the word also refers to continued existence in general.

                    3. Huó 活 (ant. sǐ 死 ) specifically refers to the state of being alive when one might have been dead, and strongly connotes not only a failure to die but also the continued existence of life energy.

                    4. Mìng 命 refers specifically to one's life-span and not to the content of one's life that might be described in a biography.

                    5. Shēn 身 comes to refer to the life one conducts as in xíng shēn 行身 "conduct one's life" (Greek bios), and, and to one's lifespan as in zhōng shēn 終身 "all one's life".

                    6. Shòu 壽 (yāo 夭 "short life ended by an unnaturally early death") refers specifically to a lifespan as long as it naturally can be and should be.

                  • WASTE

                    1. The current general word for habitual wastefulness is hào 耗 (ant. liǎn 斂 "economical, parsimonious").

                    2. Fèi 費 (ant. jié 節 "be economical in the use of resources") refers specifically to single acts of wastefulness.

                    3. Fèi 廢 (ant. cún 存 "keep and avoid spending") refers to an inclination to use large sums without necessarily indicating that such large expenditure is wasteful.

                    4. Kuàng 曠 "waste" (ant. xī 惜 "make sparing use of") is limited to the combination kuàng rì 曠日 "waste time" (ant. shěng shí 省時 "save time" seems late).

                  • LOSE

                    1. The dominant general word for to lose is shī 失 (ant. dé 得 "get") which refers to any disappearance of something which belonged to one in any sense, but the emphasis tends to be on the loss being the result of a mistake rather than mere insouciance.

                    2. Yí 遺 (ant. cún 存 "keep in one's possession) is to lose through inadvertency an object that one would like to have or to keep.

                    3. Wà2ng 亡 (ant. yǒu 有 "have") refers to the the disappearance or loss of property, what one has control of or owns, not to the loss of e.g. parts of the body.

                    4. Sàng 喪 (ant. dé 得 "get") is to lose something or someone dear to one or close to one, including objects of "inalienable possession", either momentarily for a time, or permanently.

                    5. Juān 捐 is sometimes used to refer to seeing one's supply of something diminished or to have such a supply disappear.

                  • PERSIST

                    1. The current general word for the persistence or continued existence of something is cún 存 (ant. wáng 亡 "cease to exist").

                    2. Huó 活 "survive" (ant. sǐ 死 "die") refers specifically to survival of a living creature.

                    3. Yí 遺 (ant. shī 失 "get lost") is used to refer to things that continue to exist or are handed down from earlier times.

                  • DIE

                    1. The dominant general word is sǐ 死 (ant. shēng 生 "be alive"), and this can refer to the death of plants as well as animals or men.

                    2. Bēng 崩 refers to the death of an emperor.

                    3. Hōng 薨 and cú 殂 / 徂 refers to the death of a senior official.

                    4. Zú 卒 is specifically the death of a common citizen, but occasionally also used to refer to the death of senior persons like dukes.

                    5. Piǎo 殍 and jǐn 殣 "(of common people) starve to death, die in the gutters" refer distinctly to the death of ordinary people.

                    6. Mò 沒 / 歿 (ant. cún 存 "survive") and zhōng 終 are abstract elevated, polite words to use about the death of a significant person.

                    7. Yì 殪 "get killed" is the result of violent action.

                    8. Yāo (old: yǎo) 夭, yǎo 殀 and shāng 殤 (ant. shòu 壽 "long-lived") refer to an early and not just untimely death.

                    9. Jí22 shì 即世 refers to the death of high-ranking personalities in the bureaucracy.

                    10. Wáng 亡 "cease to be" is a polite and periphrastic way of referring to death.

                    11. Xùn 殉 refers to the act of laying down one's life, dying for a cause.

                    NB: The periphrastic vocabulary of Chinese referring to death is extraordinarily large. I have more than 900 terms - if modern locutions gēbēr sǐ 咯嘣兒死 "die" are included.

                  • EXIST

                    1. The standard word for existence is yǒu 有 and this word is also used inchoatively.

                    2. Cún 存 focusses continued existence as opposed to disappearance or annihilation. See PERSIST.

                    3. Zài 在 focusses on the presence in a certain place. See BE IN.

                    Word relations
                  • Ant: (PERSIST)亡/DISAPPEAR The dominant word for ceasing to exist is wáng 亡 (and there is no early evidence for the reading wú 亡).
                  • Ant: (PERSIST)去/LEAVE The general word for leaving one place for another is qù 去 (ant. liú 留"remain").
                  • Ant: (SAFEGUARD)棄/DISCARD The standard general words for discarding something is qì 棄 (ant. qǔ 取 "choose to retain") and the somewhat rarer juān 捐.
                  • Ant: (PERSIST)沒 / 歿/DIE Mò 沒/歿 (ant. cún 存 "survive") and zhōng 終are abstract elevated, polite words to use about the death of a significant person.
                  • Ant: (SAFEGUARD)遺/LOSE Yí 遺 (ant. cún 存 "keep in one's possession) is to lose through inadvertency an object that one would like to have or to keep.
                  • Ant: (EXIST)亡/ABSENT
                  • Epithet: (EXIST)安/PEACEFUL The dominant general word for peacefulness is ān 安 (wēi 危 "in imminent danger"), but in addition the word also often has considerable philosophical depth and commonly refers to a deep state of unruffled inner serenity in harmony with the outer world.
                  • Contrast: (PERSIST)在/PERSIST
                  • Contrast: (LIVE)生/LIVE The current standard word for being alive is shēng 生 (ant. sǐ 死 "be dead").
                  • Assoc: (YEARN)想/YEARN Xiǎng 想 is rare in pre-Buddhist Chinese and tends to refer to thinking of someone not only with affection but also with anticipation and hope for future contact.
                  • Synon: (INVESTIGATE)察/INVESTIGATE The most general words for investigating something are chá 察 "sort out clearly" and shen 審 "investigate carefully".