Taxonomy of meanings for 孺:　　

Additional information about 孺

說文解字: 【孺】，乳子也。一曰：輸也，輸尚小也。从子、需聲。 【而遇切】

Criteria
• BOY
  

  1. Tóng zǐ 童子 is the standard neutral word for a boy below the age of 15, but the strong connotation is that of ignorance and immaturity.

  2. Shù zǐ 豎子 refers to a boy as opposed to an infant, but very often often with strong pejorative force.

  3. Tóng 童 by itself is an archaic word referring to a boy, but the term enters freely into non-archaic binomes.

  4. Rú zǐ 孺子 can refer to a child of any sex, and certainly often refers to young girls, but like rú 孺 alone the word does sometimes refer specifically to boys regarded as catamites.

  5. Nán 男 refers generally to males, and only by extension to boys. Note incidentally that apparently even in Tang times a nán ér 男兒 tends to be a young man rather than a boy.

  6. Zǐ 子 refers generally to children, but it is often hard to distinguish the meaning from that of boy, when the reference obviously is to males. See CHILD.

  7. Ruò zǐ 弱子 refers to a (probably male) child as an object of maternal love, and there is pervasive doubt whether this term refers to a boy or a girl, although given traditional preoccupations with boys, one suspects the typical reference is taken to little boys needful of motherly care. See CHILD.

• GIRL
  

  NB: The distinction between "girl" and "daughter" is very often unclear.

  1. A current general word for a girl is rú zǐ 孺子, and in the plural nu � mèi 女妹.

  2. Zǐ nu �子女 refers to post-puberty girls often used as gifts or as bribes.

  3. Nu �女 can refer to a girl.

• CHILD
  

  1. The commonest word for a child is zǐ 子 "son; child (male or female); rarely: baby".

  2. Ér 兒 refers to children of fairly young age.

  3. Tóng 童 refers to a person as a young child without focusing on whose child it is and the word is often used in compounds.

  4. Gōng zǐ 公子 refers specifically to a prince or son by a royal father and his main wife. See PRINCE.

  5. Chì zǐ 赤子 refers to a fairly small or new-born child.

  6. Ruò zǐ 弱子 and 童子 refer to a very young child.

  7. Xiǎo zǐ 小子 is often used for small children but can also refer to people lower in hierachy as for example the disciples of a master (often when the master is addressing them); in addition it is sometimes used by the ruler (when mourning for his parents) and by high officers as humble first person pronoun.

  8. Rǔ zǐ 孺子 can refer to very young children, but the word can also refer more generally to youths, especially girls.

Word relations