Taxonomy of meanings for 屈:　　

  • 屈 qū (OC: khlud MC: kʰiut) 區勿切 入 廣韻：【拗曲亦姓又虜複姓屈突氏又羌複姓有屈男氏區勿切三 】
    • BEND
      • vtoNbend (one's body etc)
      • continuative>TWIST
        • nabactthe bending or twisting of the body 屈伸／屈信
        • vtoNtwist out of proper shape
      • social>OPPRESS
          • sociological>HUMILIATE
            • result>DISTRESS
              • vibe in straights
            • generalised>EXHAUST
              • vtoNmiddle voiceget exhausted
              • vtoNcausativecause N to get exhaustedDS
          • causative>CONQUER
            • vtoNcausativecause to submit, cause to recognise one's authority
            • vtoNpassivebe subduedLZ
          • gesture>BOW DOWN
            • vadNbent; crooked
            • vibe bent
            • vichangebow, bend down, be humiliated; contract; be bent
            • vtoNbow to
            • related action>INVITE
              • vtoNcolloquialTang colloquial: invite somebody (Tang poetry) JIYUN: “ 屈，曲也，請也。
              • vtoNpassivebe invited
              • vttoN.+V[0]MOUZI invite somebody to do something JIYUN: “ 屈，曲也，請也。 ”
            • related feature>HUMBLE
              • vibend> be humbly flexible
              • vtoNattitudinalhumble (oneself)
              • vtoNattitudinalregard (oneself as humble/undistinguished)
              • vtoNcausativecause to be humble
            • grammaticalised> PLEASE
          • resultative>BREAK
            • specific>BIND
              • figurative: bent>UNJUST
                • nabactinjustice at the hands of others
                • vibe unjustly treated by others; feel unjustly humiliated by others
              • figurative>MIXED
              • MALES OF CHU
                • POETS
                • 屈 jué (OC: klud MC: kiut) 九勿切 入 廣韻：【屈産地名出良馬亦姓楚有屈平又音詘 】
                • qūRESTRAIN
                  • vtoNrestrain, contain within limits, minimaliseCH

                Additional information about 屈

                說文解字:

                  Criteria
                • TWIST

                  1. The current general word for something being bent is qū 曲 (ant. zhí 直 "make straight").

                  2. Qū 屈 / 詘 (all ant. shēn 伸 "stretch out") refers specifically to the bending of the body, mostly when bowing politely.

                  3. Náo 撓 (ant. zhèng 正 "straighten out")typically focusses on the act and impact of bending.

                  4. Wǎng 枉 (ant. zhèng 正 "straight and unwarped") refers to bending as distortion. The word is predominantly transferred in meaning and prototypically refers to the bending of the law.

                  5. Wān 彎 (ant.zhí 直 "keep straight") has rather limited uses in pre-Buddhist Chinese, referring to the bending of a bow.

                • STRAIGHT

                  1. The current general word for something concrete or abstract being straight in any abstract or concrete way is zhí 直 (ant. wān 彎 "bent")

                  2. Zhèng 正 (ant. qǔ 曲 "bent") refers to straightness as the desirable state of something.

                  3. Duān 端 (ant. xié 斜 "slanted") and zhēn 貞 (ant. xié 邪 "morally warped") refer to straightness and non-crookedness, often as a property of abstract things.

                  4. Gěng 鯁 (ant. qū 屈 "bent") is a rare word referring to straightness in speech or straightness in small objects.

                • UNJUST

                  1. The current general term for injustice suffered is yuān 冤 (ant. píng 平 "proper balanced treatment").

                  2. Wǎng 枉 (ant. zhí 直 "straight and lawful treatment") often refers to perversion of justice (althouth the word comes to mean "injustice suffered" by Eastern Han times).

                  3. Qǔ 曲 refers to a slightly lesser injustice one is guilty of than wǎng 枉.

                  4. Qū 屈 refers to a mild injustice suffered, milder than yuān 冤.

                • CURVED

                  1. The standard general word for anything bent or curved rather than straight is qǔ 曲 (ant. zhí 直 "straight"), and this word has a range of metaphorical uses.

                  2. Qū 屈 refers to something being bent or twisted and therefore not stretched out to its full potential length (ant. shēn 伸 "stretch out") is mostly literal in meaning, except when referring to being bowed down by humiliation.

                  3. Wān 彎 refers to naturally curved objects of any kind without any suggestion of them having been bent into this shape.

                  4. Yǔ 傴 refers especially to the deformation of the human body through various diseases which cause humans to have curved backs. See HUNCHBACK

                  5. Gōu 枸 refers especially to bent wood without any indication of why this wood has become bent.

                  6. Róu 輮 is a rare word referring - always very literally - to the bending (especially of wood) into round shape and the resulting bent shape of wood.

                  Word relations
                • Ant: (HUMBLE)勇/COURAGE The standard general word for courage is yǒng 勇 (ant. nuò 懦 "pusillanimousness, chicken-liveredness"), which refers to positive boldness evinced in the face of danger or risk. Cf. fortitudo
                • Ant: (BOW DOWN)直/STRAIGHT The current general word for something concrete or abstract being straight in any abstract or concrete way is zhí 直 (ant. wān 彎 "bent")