Taxonomy of meanings for 憲:　　

  • 憲 xiàn (OC: qhans MC: hiɐn) 許建切 去 廣韻：【法也又姓出姓苑 】
    • IMITATE
      • vtoNtake as one's model or pattern
    • LAW
      • nabtexts, collectivewritten basic laws; administrative regulations XUN 1: administrative regulations; procedural statutes 行憲 "implement statutes"
    • MODEL
      • nabpsychmodel
    • PUBLICISE
      • vttoN1. prep N2put on public display to, publicise toCH
    • THINK
      • METHOD
        • PUNISH
          • RANK
            • YOU
              • SURNAMES
                • = 軒

                Additional information about 憲

                說文解字: 【憲】，敏也。从心、从目，害省聲。 〔小徐本「目」上無「从」。〕 【許建切】

                  Criteria
                • LAW

                  1. The current general word for a law, a legal system or any legal provision of any kind is fǎ 法.

                  2. Lu �律 is far more specialised as a specific term referring to concrete and detailed regulations rather than a legal system as a whole, and the word is also syntactically much less flexible. Thus we have 先王之法 and not 先王之律.

                  The complexities of legal terminology can be preliminarily summarised as follows:

                  A. The rule may be explicit (chéng 程, diǎn 典, fǎ 法, hào 號, lu �律 ); or it may be primarily conventional (cháng 常, jì 紀, jīng 經, zhì 制 ).

                  B. The rule may be conceived as temporary (lìng 令, dù 度, chéng 程, hào 號 ); or it may be conceived as permanent and unchangeable (cháng 常, diǎn 典, jì 紀, jīng 經 ); or it may be conceived as long-term but clearly changeable (fǎ 法, lu �律, xiàn 憲, zhāng 章, zhì 制 ).

                  C. The rules may concern legal and economic administration (chéng 程, diǎn 典, dù 度, lu �律, xiàn 憲, zhāng 章, zhì 制, and occasionally fǎ 法 ); or they may concern prohibitions of criminal conduct (fǎ 法, pì 辟, xíng 刑 ); or they may be general moral guidelines on conduct (cháng 常, hào 號, lìng 令, jì 紀 ).

                  D. The focus may be on the written documents containing the rules as such (diǎn 典, xiàn 憲, zhāng 章 ); or the focus may be on the content of the rules (cháng 常, chéng 程, dù 度, lìng 令, zhì 制 ); or the primary focus may be on oral promulgation of the rule (hào 號 ).

                  E. The rules may be regarded as a collective system (cháng 常, jì 紀, jīng 經, zhì 制 ); or they may be conceived as individual legal prescriptions (all others).

                  Word relations