Taxonomy of meanings for 屬:　　

Additional information about 屬

說文解字: 【屬】，連也。 〔小徐本無「也」。〕 从尾、蜀聲。 【之欲切】

Criteria
• WRITE
  

  1. The standard current word for writing something down or noting it down is shū 書, and this word can never refer to an act of literary creation.

  2. Zhù 著 and zhuàn 撰 are late words referring to the act of writing of a text.

  3. Xiě 寫 refers to copying and transcribing rather than writing as such.

  4. Lù 錄, zhì 志, and jì 記 refer to the act of recording, formally or informally.

  5. Biān 編, lí 離, and zhǔ 屬 refer to the compilation of texts.

• CHINA
  

  睡虎地秦墓竹簡 1978: 226 臣邦人不安秦主而欲去夏者, 勿許. 何謂夏 ? 欲去親屬是謂夏.

  The words for China have this in common that they do NOT designate any one state. 中國 "the central states" is implicitly plural when it does not refer to the capital city. 諸夏 the various Xià (states)" is explicitly plural. The standard Imperium Romanum has no counterpart in Chinese until very late, unless one admits 天下 "all under Heaven" as a designation for the empire. But 天下 does not define any bounded empire. It remains to be seen exactly when a standard term for China was took shape. Compare the problems of finding a term for the Chinese language.

  Based on 顧頡剛 & 王樹民, “ 夏 ” 和 “ 中國 ”— 祖國古代的稱號, Zhongguo lishi dili luncong, Vol. 1 (Xi'an, 1981), 6-22).

  In the Shu and Shi sections relating to the early Zhou, 區夏 (= 夏區 ), 有夏 and 時夏 (= 是夏 ) refers to the place in which the Zhou established their capital after their conquest of Shang, in contradistinction to Zhou 掇 homeland in the West ( 西土 ) and the close Zhou allies ( 一二邦 ). The Zhou referred to their own domain as 烠 he central city-state � ( 中國 ). Since 中國 in this usage refers to the territory directly governed by the Zhou, it is singular and used in exchange with 京師 and in contradistinction with 四方 and 四國. Other states also referred to their capital regions as 啎什縕 (thus Wu in GY 19.09.01/618); a (perhaps late) variant of this word is 啎尹塹 (Yugong).

  After becoming strong, the states enfeoffed by Zhou asserted the community with the 周 by commencing to refer to themselves as 堔 L �, leading to the plural designation 埣悎 L �, used in contrast with designations like 啈 i 狄�. The distinction between the two groups was viewed as cultural, and its precise reference shifted over time, originally excluding states (like 楚 ) from the community of 諸夏 but later including them, or including them in the beginning, whilst later excluding them (like 秦 ). Some of the non- 諸夏 states were viewed as subservient to 諸夏 states, others as their enemies. The membership of 楚 to the 諸夏 circle was always insecure; it was, so to speak, was"always on probation.

  The 東夏 made up a subdivision of the 諸夏, including states such a 齊 and 魯.

  In parallel with the 堔 L � appellations arose the 埽寊 appellations, 埽寊 on its own and 埣捄寊, and, the two words may well be cognate, the common 埽堮 L �.

  In the Warring States period the cultural distinction gave way to a geographical distinction, and the 中國 states were now the state occupying the Central Plain

• CATEGORY
  

  1. The general current word for the abstract notion of a category of any kind is lèi 類.

  2. Shǔ 屬 construes a category as something that concrete things belong to or belong under, and the term is not abstract in force.

  3. Zhǒng 種 "kind" emphasises the common origin and derives from the biological notion of a species, and the term often refers specifically to the kinds of grain.

  4. Chóu 疇 "natural group a thing belongs to" is not really a logical term of classification but essentially a term belonging to the sociology of animals.

• OVINE
  

  1. Yáng 羊 is the general word referring indifferently to what in English is a sheep, a goat, or a ram.

  2. Gāo 羔 refers to a young goat or sheep.

  3. Zāng 牂 refers to a female goat or sheep.

  4. Yú 妤羭 is a colloquialism for a goat or a sheep.

  5. Jié 羯 castrated sheep.

  NB: According to ERYA fán 羳 refers to a goat/sheep with yellow belly, and goats/sheep with curved horns are called guǐ 觤 (ERYA). Fèn 羒 refers to a male goat or sheep.

  ERYA （三）羊屬。

  19·28 羊，牡羒，牝牂。

  19·29 夏羊，牡羭，牝羖。

  19·30 角不齊，觤；角三觠，羷。

  19·31 羳羊，黃腹。

  19·32 未成羊，羜。

• ENTRUST
  

  1. The currrent standard word for entrusting something to someone else's care is tuō 託 any limited or unlimited period of time.

  2. Jì 寄 focusses on the transferring of responsibility for something to someone else, typically for a limited period of time.

  3. Zhǔ 屬 is cause something to belong under someone else, often with no time limit.

• STUDENT
  

  1. The current general word for a disciple of any kind, or a follower of a school or any line of thought, is tú 徒.

  2. Mén rén 門人 stresses the physical abode near a master.

  3. Dì zǐ 弟子 refers rather intimately to disciples of a master as the object of his affection.

  4. Shǔ 屬 is a cold general word referring to someone who belongs to a certain group and under a certain leadership.

  5. Cóng zhě 從者 like the English "followers" primarily focusses on the idea of following a master wherever he goes, but this nuance is weakened with time so that the term comes to mean quite abstractly "follower".

  6. Xiǎo zǐ 小子 is an affectionate term only used in the vocative.

• RELATIVES
  

  1. The current general words for relatives are qīn 親 "consanguine relative", and qī 戚 "non-consaguine relative".

  2. Juàn 眷 is not very current in pre-Buddhist times, but does refer quite generally to consanguine as well as non-consanguine relatives.

  3. Qī 戚 refers to relatives including and sometimes focussing on the non-consanguine relations.

  4. Qīn qī 親戚 refers to members of one family having a consanguinal relationship. Before the >Qín 秦 dynasty, these could be also called zhì qīn 至親.

  5. Gǔ roù 骨肉 is used as a metaphor refering to a consanginual kinship.

  6. Jiā rén 家人 refers to the family living together.

  7. Qīn shǔ 親屬 refers in a rather objective or even administrative way to the members of a clan.

• POSSESS
  

  1. The current, but late, technical term for possession is 屬於. (See XYJ 48)

Word relations
• Ant: (SUMMON)絕/DESTROY