Additional information about 巨
說文解字: 【巨】，規巨也。从工，象手持之。 〔小徐本「之」下有「形」。〕 【其呂切】 【榘】，巨或从木、矢，矢者，其中正也。 【𢀓(㠪)】，古文巨。 〔小徐本古文「 【𢀓(㠪)】」在「 【榘】」之前。〕
- Criteria
- THIEF
1. The standard word for a professional or at least specialised thief is dào 盜. Dà dào 大盜 is a notorious professional thief, jù dào 巨盜 is a professional large scale robber.
2. Zéi 賊 refers to a bandit or a villain who can be hired to commit crimes, and his villainy often consists in hired murder. It may or may not consist in robbery. See VILLAIN.
3. Qiè 竊 is occasionally used to refer to a petty thief.
- UNIMPORTANT
1. The current general term for unimportance is qīng 輕 (ant. zhòng 重 "important").
2. Mò 末 (ant. běn 本 "basic and important")) refers to something being marginal as opposed to other things that are central or crucial.
3. Xì 細 (ant. jù 巨 "of tremendous importance") and wēi 微 (ant. dà 大 "of great importance") refer to things being trifling and without serious impact on a situation.
4. Huǎn 緩 (ant. jí 急 "urgent and important") refers to something being less important because it is less urgent.
5. Xiǎo 小 (ant. dà 大 "of great importance") is sometimes used as a colourless term denying the importance of something.
- SMALL
1. The dominant quite general word is xiǎo 小 (ant. dà 大 "big"), and this word refers to both physical size and abstract importance.
2. Miǎo 眇 / 渺 and mǐ 靡 (ant. páng 龐 "big") refers to extremely small size of something.
3. Xì 細 (ant. jù 巨 "enormous") is sometimes used to refer to something being small or of slight importance. See TENUOUS
NB: ǎi 矮 "not tall, of slight height, of low build" is post-Buddhist late colloquial.
- BIG
[[COMMON/RARE]]
[ELEVATED/FAMILIAR]
[+FIG/LITERAL]
[GENERAL/SPECIFIC]
[HIGH-DEGREE/LOW-DEGREE]
[HORIZONTAL/VERTICAL]
1. The general word is dà 大 (ant. xiǎo 小 "small").
[GENERAL]; [[COMMON]]
2. Jù 巨 "huge" (ant. xì 細 "slight") indicates a higher degree of size.
[HIGH-DEGREE+], [LITERAL], [VERTICAL]
3. Kuí 魁 and páng 龐 (ant. wēi 微 "small and slight"), both rare, add to the notion of vertical size that of impressiveness.
[+FIG], [HIGH-DEGREE], [VERTICAL]; [[RARE]]
4. Hóng 洪 refers to the size of water masses, and the word is often used in metaphorical senses.
[ELEVATED], [+FIG], [HORIZONTAL]
5. Hào 昊 refers to the vastness of the sky, as a poetic elevated epithet (sometimes perhaps confused by scribes with 旻 ).
[ARCHAIC], [ELEVATED], [+FIG], [HORIZONTAL]
6. Jù 巨 "huge" (ant. xì 細 "slight") indicates a very high degree of size.
- ORDINARY
1. The current general word for "ordinary" is fán 凡 (ant. qí 奇 "remarkable").
2. Zhōng 中 (ant. yōu 優 "excellent") refers specifically to mediocrity.
3. Yōng 庸 (ant. tè 特 "of special distinction") refers to what is regularly met and not unexpected, and the word focusses on that this does not distinguish itself through any positive features.
4. Sǎn 散 (ant. jīng 精 "exquisite") refers to what can make no claim for special attention.
5. Shù 庶 (ant. zhēn 珍 "extraordinarily precious") refers to kinds of persons that there are very many of.
6. Cū 粗 (ant. jīng 精 "exquisitely civilised") refers to ordinariness as absence of cultural polish.
7. Xì 細 (ant. kuí 魁 "great, towering") refers to ordinariness as absence of real power or significance.
8. Wēi 微 (ant. jù 巨 "great") refers to relative slightness or insignificance without negative overtones.
- GREAT
1. The most general word for awe-inspiring greatness and significance is wěi 偉 (ant. 眇 / 渺 "trifling").
2. Dà 大 (ant. xiǎo 小 "insignificant") is often used to refer to generally recognised awe-inspiring status (for example of a king etc) rather than mere size.
3. Hóng 弘 and jù 巨 (ant. xì 細 ) are stylistically marked strong words to use for the greatness of something. See IMPORTANT
4. Hóng 鴻 refers to greatness as essentially linked to immense size.
5 Kǒng 孔 is an archaic word referring to immensity, numerousness as well as remarkable intensity of something.