Taxonomy of meanings for 收:　　

Additional information about 收

說文解字:

Criteria
• HARVEST
  

  1. The general old and current word for a harvest, particularly a good harvest is nián 年.

  2. Suì 歲 refers to the harvest of a year without any current reference to good or bad harvests.

  3. Rǎng 穰 refers to an abundant harvest.

  4. Jià 稼 refers generally to the grain crop.

  5. Sè 穡 refers generally to the grain crop as garnered in and properly stored.

  6. Shōu 收 regularly refers to the harvest as what is garnered and collected for future use.

• ACCEPT
  

  [ASCENDING/DESCENDING[

  [ELEVATED/INFORMAL]

  [GENERAL/SPECIFIC]

  [IMPOLITE/POLITE]

  1. The general word for accepting something offered to one is shòu 受, but the distinction with the passive "receive" is not made explicit.

  [GENERAL]

  2. Fe4ng 奉 is literally to accept something with both arms, enthusiastically, formally.

  3. Sho1u 收 refers to accepting and keeping something.

  4. Na4 納 refers neutrally to not refusing what one is offered.

  5. Bài 拜 is sometimes used by itself to signify very polite acceptance of an offer.

  [ASCENDING], [POLITE], [ELEVATED], [SPECIFIC]

• RECEIVE
  

  1. The current general word is shòu 受 (ant. jù 拒 "refuse to accept"; ant.* yǔ 與 "give"), which can refer to any concrete or abstract form of receiving or being exposed to.

  2. Chéng 承 (ant.* zèng 贈 "present formally") refers to the polite act of receiving something as a gift.

  3. Fèng 奉 and bǐng 稟 (ant.* cì 賜 "present formally to inferiors") refers to the polite act of receiving any concrete or abstract thing (including orders and the like) from a superior.

  4. Měng 蒙 is to be on the receiving end of a process, and the word hardly ever takes concrete objects.

  5. Nà 納 focusses concretely on the receiving something from the outside into some inside.

  6. Shōu 收 refers specifically to receiving what is due to one.

• SOW
  

  1. The current word for sowing is zhòng 種 (ant. shōu 收 "harvest").

  2. Bō 播 focusses on the spreading of seeds over a field.

  3. Jià 稼 (ant. sè 穡 "harvest") refers specifically to the sowing of grain.

  4. Shù 樹 is marginal in this group because the word refers generally to planting seedlings rather than sowing.

  5. Yì 藝 can occasionally be used to refer specifically to the planting of rice seedlings and the like.

  6. Zhí 殖 (ant. huò 獲 "harvest") includes the planting as well as the ensuing cultivation of domesticated plants.

  7. Zāi 栽 refers to placing of seedlings of any kind or provenance in the earth as part of agricultural cultivation, and the word first became current in Eastern Han times.

  8. Shí 蒔 refers to the replanting of seedlings from one cultivated patch to another.

• BURY
  

  1. Mái 埋 is the very general word for concrete interment, the placing of any object in the ground by digging a whole for it.

  2. The general word for human burial and funeral arrangements is zàng 葬. For the ritual aspects of funeral practice the standard word is sāng 喪. See MOURNING

  3. Bìn 殯 is a formal ritual term referring to the placing of a dead person in a coffin.

  4. Shōu 收 is a formal ritual term for preparing a dead person for formal burial.

  5. Yì 瘞 is a formal ritual term sometimes referring to preliminary or informal burial, but more regularly to the sacrificial burial of gifts for the deceased.

  6. Kēng 坑 is the burying of one or more persons alive, as punishment, or as an emergency burial of large numbers of persons. See EXECUTE

  7. Fù 祔 refers in a formal and technical way to the current practice of burying a person in the same grave as someone else, and to the ritual of placing the name tablet of the deceased next to that of someone with whom he was to be ritual associated.

  8. Gǎi zàng 改葬 refers to ritual reburial.

  9. Sì 肂 is a rare technical term for "preliminary burial".

  10. Biǎn 窆 is a rare technical term for "lower into the grave".

  11. Diàn 奠 refers to the sacrifice before the enterment of the body. See SACRIFICE

• CONFISCATE
  

  1. The general current term for any kind of confiscation is shōu 收.

  2. Liǎn 斂 refers to the collecting of dues in an official capacity.

• STRETCH OUT
  

  1. The current general word for stretching things so as to make them reach out longer is shēn 伸 (ant. suō 縮 "pull in").

  2. Yán 延 (ant. tuì 退 "retract" and perhaps shōu 收 "contract") refers to the stretching out of something in one distinct direction.

  3. Zhǎn 展 (ant. juǎn 卷 "roll up, fold up") specifically refers to the stretching out of things in several directions at the same time.

  4. Shū 舒 (ant. juǎn 卷 "roll up, fold up") is rather marginal in this group and refers specifically to reaching or spreading out in several directions without necessarily remaining continuous in the process.

  5. Shū 攄 (ant. xì 翕 refers to the (often abstract) expansion into a new area.

• REAP
  

  1. Huò 穫 and sè 穡 refer to the action of harvesting grain in general.

  2. Yì 刈 refers to harvesting grain with special focus on the cutting of the grain.

  3. Shōu 收 and liǎn 斂 refers to harvesting with special focus on the ability to collect, retain and use what is harvested.

  NB: For the nominal usages see HARVEST.

• RELEASE
  

  1. The most current general word for setting an animal or a person free is shì 釋 (ant. shōu 收 "hold prisoner").

  2. Zòng 縱 (ant. yuē 約 "restrain") is to give free reins to someone or something that is under constraint with the expectation that this feedom will be used freely and enthusiastically.

  3. Sì 肆 (ant. jié 節 "restrain, moderate") refers to giving free rein to psychological tendencies and the like, thus going beyond what are natural societal expectations.

  4. Chū 出 (ant. liú 留 "keep in retention") is a colourless term referring to letting someone out of an enclosure, typically prison.

  5. Miǎn 免 (ant. jiū 究 "hold definitely responsible for crimes") refers specifically to an act of mercy involving a decision to set someone free who is available for criminal prosecution for a crime assumed committed.

  6. Fàng 放 (ant. liǎn 斂 "exert a moderating influence on") refers to a removal of constraints on animals or persons, causing these to follow their natural instincts.

• PAY
  

  1. Probably the commonest word for payment of what is due is cháng 償 (ant. qiàn 欠 "continue to owe money").

  2. Yǔ 與 (ant. qǔ 取 "take") sometimes refers to payment (e.g. of interest).

  3. Chū 出 (ant. rù 入 "have as income") refers to the use of necessary resources in money in order to obtain something.

  4. Nà 內 "pay in" and the rarer rù 入 (ant. shōu 收 "receive money") are technical economic terms to paying something one owes something.

  5. Fù 負 occasionally comes to mean "pay out".

  6. Jué 決 refers specifically of paying taxes or fees that are due.

Word relations
• Ant: (RECEIVE)貸/LEND OUT Dài 貸 is a technical fiscal term referring to the giving of loans, typically from some institution or public body.
• Assoc: (HARVEST)聚 / 聚/GATHER The most current general term for the temporary assembling of things is jù 聚 (ant. sàn 散 "spread") which can refer to the gathering together of what does not necessarily belong together and of what is not necessarily of the same kind and what will disperse or be dispersed. 4 Attributions
• Synon: (OBTAIN)取/OBTAIN Obtaining something through effort and often with an element of choice involved is qǔ 取 (ant. qì 棄 "choose to reject"). 1 Attribution