Taxonomy of meanings for 急:　　

Additional information about 急

說文解字: 【急】，褊也。从心、及聲。 【居立切】

Criteria
• PEACEFUL
  

  1. The dominant general word for peacefulness is ān 安 (wēi 危 "in imminent danger"), but in addition the word also often has considerable philosophical depth and commonly refers to a deep state of unruffled inner serenity in harmony with the outer world.

  2. Píng 平 (ant. luàn 亂 "chaos") is prototypically an unruffled smooth surface, and the word refers to a state of harmonious tranquility, particularly in a community of people.

  3. Níng 寧 (ant. yáng 殃 "a totally disastrous state") refers to a state of affairs, primarily in a community of people, where disturbances have ceased.

  4. Yì 佚 / 逸 (ant. láo 勞 "engaged in exhausting effort") refers to restful peace of mind, typically after effort.

  5. Tián 恬 and dàn 淡 (all ant. dòng dàng 動蕩 "be all over the place) refer to serenity in an individual as cultivated, notoriously, by the Taoists.

  6. Jìng 靜 (ant. zào 躁 "flurried), is a state of mind in which one refuses to be rushed into any action and is fully at ease.

  7. Tài 泰 (all ant. jí 急 "be off balance or in urgent need of something, be in a critical state") and yí 夷 (ant. jīng 驚 "be upset") refers to relaxation, the state of being détendu.

• WORRY
  

  1. The current general term for all sorts of troubled states of mind, as well as reasons for such states of mind, is yōu 憂 (ant. xǐ 喜 "be well pleased" and lè 樂 "feel deep joy"), and this word may freely refer to troublesome matters of the present or of the future, and the word typiccally refers to a termporary state of hightened awareness of what is troublesome and concern about what should be done about it.

  2. Lu �慮 (ant. wàng 忘 "refuse to think about, ignore") refers to active reflection upon what one is worried about.

  3. Fán 煩 (ant. jìng 靜 "feel completely at peace") refers to a passive reaction of unsettled anxiousness about something other than oneself.

  4. Zào 躁 (ant. dìng 定 "be well-settled and unruffled") refers to the state of being flustered, restless and upset by worries.

  5. Jí 急 (ant. ān 安 "feel comfortable") refers to urgent and particularly acute temporary worries about something present or immediately imminent.

  6. Jí 疾 (ant. níng 寧 "feel at peace") refers to intense and profound worries about something present (and these worries may or may not be lasting).

  7. Huàn 患 (ant. lè 樂 "feel deeply happy with") refers to intense worry or concern about the possible future effects of something or the possibility of events in the future.

  8. Āi 哀 (ant. lè 樂 "feel perfectly happy with"), when it refers to intense worry rather than grief, connotes despondency and hopelessness and not just worry over possibilities.

  9. Chóu 愁 (ant. yuè 說／悅 "feel pleased"), and the rarer poetic sāo 騷, qiǎo 悄, tì 惕 refer to various shades and degrees of poetically conceived anxiousness.

  10. Shì 事 (ant. zhì 治 "well-ordered situation") can refer to the kinds of matters or affairs that cause one to be anxious or worried.

• 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.

• CRISIS
  

  急 NEED refers to a crisis in a negative sense, produced by insuffficient supply of something.

• EAGER
  

  1. The current general word for eagerness for something is jí 急 (ant. huǎn 緩 "uneager").

  2. Jí 疾 tends to refer to urgent eagerness.

  3. Jí 亟 refers occasionally to a concrete urgent eagerness for something desired.

  4. Hān 酣, normally "tipsy", is occasionally used to refer to eagerness of pursuit of something.

  5. Lì 利 sometimes refers to the abstract attitude towards something as singularly and acutely profitable to one.

• LAZY
  

  1. The general word for a failure to make any kind of effort required of one is duò 惰 (ant. qín 勤 "eager to work"), and this word describes a general psychological condition of a person.

  2. Dài 怠 (ant. jìng 敬 "be respectfully dedicated to one's duties") refers to a customary failure to perform one's official duties with the appropriate seriousness of effort.

  3. Xiè 懈 (ant. jí 急 "be eager with respect to") refers to a an unwillingness to put in a necessary effort at a certain point of time in spite of the fact that one may not be congenitally or hopelessly prone to laziness.

• SLOW
  

  1. The most generally used word for slowness is probably xú 徐 (ant. jí 疾 "fast"), which refers to an indifference on the part of the agent concerning the speed he is making, and the word has no negative connotations, indeed the reference is often to pleasant sauntering slow insouciance.

  2. Huǎn 緩 "slowly, at one's own speed" (ant. jí 急 "fast and urgent") tends to suggest a self-indulgent absence of haste which may call for criticism.

  3. Chí 遲 (ant. sù 速 "quickly and smoothly") focusses on a reprehensible, often inept, but possibly unavoidable, failure to make proper speed or to arrive in time.

  4. Màn 慢 (ant. qǐn 勤 "with polite expediency") is deliberate and deliberately offensive dilatory behaviour; and the word is somewhat marginal in this group.

• HURRY
  

  1. The current general word for making maximum speed is qū 趨 (ant. tuō 拖 "delay") (contrast qū 趨 "shuffle politely").

  2. Zào 躁 is to be rushed and flurried.

  3. Jí 急 (ant. huǎn 緩 "slowly") refers to act with urgenct purpose, as in an emergency.

  4. Jí 亟 (ant. huǎn 緩 "slowly") refers to generally making good speed and causing no delay.

  5. Chuán 遄 is a rather dramatic word referring to doing one's physical best.

  6. Chí 馳 and the somewhat rarer zòu 驟 refer to racing along, typically on horseback.

  7. Cù 趣 is to hurry in a certain direction.

  8. Wù 騖 refers to racing along at terrific speed, typically on horseback. See GALLOP

• NEED
  

  1. The current general word for needing something is xū 須, and this word does not refer to a general need, but only to a need for a certain purpose.

  2. Bì 必 can refer to a logical or practical precondition for something.

  3. Jí 急 (ant.* yǒu yú 有餘 "have more than enough") refers to a desperate state which can be said to be a state where one is in need of help and supplies.

  4. Yòng 用 is sometimes used to refer not to the use of something but the need for it, especially in rhetorical questions.

• ENCOURAGE
  

  1. The dominant current word is quàn 勸 (ant. jǔ 沮 "try to stop") which refers to all kinds of encouragement, both from inferiors and from superiors.

  2. Miǎn 勉 focusses on the effort needed in doing what one is encouraged to do.

  3. Qū 驅 "drive on hard" refers to "encouragement" by threat of force from the part of superiors.

  4. Lì 勵 refers to a superior encouraging others to strive hard for the ideals they already have.

  5. Cù 趣 refers to encouraging others to make greater speed in doing what they are already doing or aiming to do.

  6. Jí 急 refers to an urgent request to speed up what one is doing in a concrete way.

  7. Xù 勗 is an elavated archaic word which was quite current in SHANGSHU and reappeared as an archaism in Han times.

• DISASTER
  

  1. The most common general word for disasters is huò 禍 (ant. fú 福 "good fortune") which has no connotations of any metaphysical kind. (In OBI the character currently transcribed as huò 禍 - and closely related to 占 - refers not only to disasters as such, but particularly to disastrous omens.)

  2. Zāi 災 refers to a natural disaster, typically sent down by Heaven.

  3. Huàn 患 refers to any major or minor disaster, even down to minor irritations.

  4. Yāng 殃 always refers to major natural disasters, often construed as causes by human misdemeanour, or by a failure to take preventive action.

  5. Niè 孽 often has heavy metaphysical connotations and refers to disasters as caused by higher powers acting with an intention to harm, but there are some clear cases where the word refers to man-made trouble in MENG.

  6. Nàn 難 refer to man-made disasters of every kind.

  7. Jí 急 is a disastrous or highly precarious situation that has occurred suddenly and requires urgent attention.

  8. Bù yú 不虞 is normally a minor disaster that was utterly unexpected.

  9. Xiōng 凶, shěng 眚 and jiù 咎 are archaic metaphysical terms for misfortunes.

  10. Hài 害 refers generally to harm, but in OBI the word standardly refers to harm done by supernatural powers or ancestors.

Word relations
• Ant: (HURRY)寬/SLOW
• Ant: (NEED)富/RICH The general word for wealth is fù 富 (ant. pín 貧 "poor"), and the word has a remarkably wide range of syntactic roles. 1 Attribution
• Ant: (EAGER)緩/DELAY1 Attribution
• Ant: (QUICK)緩/SLOW Huǎn 緩 "slowly, at one's own speed" (ant. jí 急 "fast and urgent") tends to suggest a self-indulgent absence of haste which may call for criticism. 1 Attribution
• Ant: (HURRY)舒/PEACEFUL
• Contrast: (QUICK)速/QUICK1 Attribution
• Assoc: (HURRY)促/QUICK
• Synon: (QUICK)促/QUICK
• Synon: (NEED)重/IMPORTANT Zhòng 重 (ant. qīng 輕"of no consequence") focusses on what carries considerable weight in a certain context. 1 Attribution