Taxonomy of meanings for 庶:　　

  • 庶 shù (OC: qhljaɡs MC: ɕiɔ) 商署切 去 廣韻：【衆也冀也侈也幸也又庶幾也亦姓 】
    • MANY
      • vadNdefinitethe numerous; all the many, all the multifarious
      • vibe teeming
      • vitimeoccasionally, archaic: be multitudinous; adjectival, perhaps also archaic: numerous in kind; multitudinous
      • exhaustively many> ALL
        • padNall the manyCH
        • feature> ORDINARY
          • nsubject=pluralordinary people
          • vadNordinary
          • v[adN]N=huma commoner
          • exocentric: son not by regular wife> DESCENDANT
            • nillegitimate offspring; offspring by companions other than the regular wife
          • exocentric> PEOPLE
            • nSHU, ZUO: multitude, the people
            • NPZHOULI: the crowds and multitudes, the common people
            • NPsingularcommoner;
          • grammaticalised> ALMOST
              • generalised> PROBABLE
                • vadVprobably 庶。。。乎
                • doubtful> PERHAPS
                  • vadSperhapsCH
                  • adverbial:lucky> LUCKY
                      • putative> DESIRE
                        • vtoShope that
                        • feature of object> EXCELLENT
                          • vinot bad, quite all right, as good as possible under the circumstances 庶幾
                        • things beyond one's control> HOPE
                          • vadShopefullyCH
                          • grammaticalised: wish that!, if only!> UTINAM
              • feature> MIXED
          • 庶 zhù (OC: hljaɡs MC: tɕiɔ) 章恕切 去 廣韻：【周禮有庶氏掌除毒蟲又音恕 】

            Additional information about 庶

            說文解字:

              Criteria
            • APPROXIMATELY

              1. The current general word for approximation to completeness of action is jī 幾.

              2. Dài 殆 (ant. bì 必 "certainly and completely") is very occasionally used to refer to the only approximate completion of an action.

              3. Shù jī 庶幾 refers to the approximation to a desirable completing of an action and is always abstract.

            • MANY

              1. The dominant word referring to numerousness and a large quantity of a stuff is duō 多 (ant. shǎo 少 ).

              2. Zhòng 眾 (ant. guǎ 寡 "few") and zhū 諸 refer to a large number of items of a certain kind.

              3. Shù 庶 (ant. shǎo 少 "few") refers to a large number of typically animate and preferably human beings.

              4. Fēn 紛 and the rarer yún yún 紜紜 refer to a confusing assembly of many things.

              5. Shù 數 (ant.* dú 獨 "the only one" or * dān 單 ) refers to a fairly large number of things of a specified kind.

              6. Fán 繁 refers to a large number of proliferating things.

              7. Zhēng 烝 is a poetic word characterising the large size of a population.

            • DESCENDANT

              1. The general current and common abstract term for offspring is hòu 後 (ant. xiān 先 "forbears").

              2. Yì 裔 (ant. zǔ 祖 "ancestors"), a fairly rare word in pre-Buddhist texts, can refer to any offspring of a clan or occasionally a people.

              3. Zhòu 冑 refers to royal offspring.

              4. Yìn 胤 refers to distant offspring.

              5. Zòng 從 (ant. dí 嫡 "direct heirs") refers to the younger generation members of the same clan who do not immediately inherit.

              6. Zǐ 子 refers to children of any sex. See CHILD

              7. Sūn 孫 refers to all descendants lower than the generation of children.

              8. Shù 庶 and niè 孽 (ant. zhèng 正 "descendant in direct line") refer to offspring by other women than the main wife.

              9. Dí 嫡 / 適 (ant. zòng 從 "descendants who are not heirs") refers specifically to the direct legitimate heir.

              10. Zǐ zhí 子姪 is a general term for descendants.

              11. Zǐ xìng 子姓 specifically refers to the sons and grandsons.

            • 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.

            • PEOPLE

              1. The dominant current general word for the people is mín 民 (ant. jūn 君 "ruler"), and this term refers inclusively to all the people particularly insofar as they are ruled by a ruler or belong to a state (xiǎo mín 小民 are the ordinary people). [ 夫民之為言也暝也，萌之為言也（肓）〔盲〕也，故惟上之所扶而以之，民無不化也。故曰：「民萌。」民萌哉！ ( 直言其意而為之名也 ) Xinshu 9

              2. Bǎi xìng 百姓 (ant. jūn zhǔ 君主 "ruler") typically refers to the registered senior families in a state who are under the control of the ruler and contribute taxes as well as military service to him; but from earliest times this term was occasionally used to refer generally to the populace at large.

              3. Rén 人 (ant. wáng 王 "king") is sometimes used generically for those people who were taken to have a political voice, as in Yīn rén 殷人 "the people of Yīn".

              4. Méng 氓 / 萌 (ant.* shì mín 士民 "citizens") refers specifically to the common people belonging to the lower echelons of society.

              5. Zhòng 眾, shù 庶 and the rarer and more rarified words 蒸 and lí 黎 refer to the masses of the people under the aspect of their numerousness.

              6. Qián shǒu 黔首 "black-headed people" is the current word for the people especially promoted by the Qin dynasty.

              7. Shì mín 士民 refers to senior registered citizens with a certain political influence; but the term can also be used collectively to refer to the freemen/gentleman shì 士 on the one hand, and the common people mín 民 on the other.

              8. Guó rén 國人 refers not to the people in a state, but specifically to the senior citizens in the capital.

              9. Mín rén 民人 is a very current way of referring to the people without suggesting any low or high status.

              10. Shù rén 庶人 is the technical term for the non-office-holding commoners in a country.

            • HEIR

              1. The most current general and neutral word referring to an heir is sì 嗣.

              2. Dí 嫡 / 適 (ant. shù 庶 "offspring by a woman other than one's main wife") emphasises the legitimacy of the succession.

              3. Hòu 後, zhòu 冑, and yìn 胤 are vague and include all offspring.

              4. Tài zǐ 太子 refers specifically to the formally established and declared heir apparent to a king or an emperor.

              5. Shì zǐ 世子 refers to the formally established and declared heir apparent of a duke, king or emperor.

              Word relations
            • Ant: (ORDINARY)嫡 / 適/HEIR Dí 嫡/適 (ant. shù 庶 "offspring by a woman other than one's main wife") emphasises the legitimacy of the succession.