Taxonomy of meanings for 日:　　

Additional information about 日

說文解字: 【日】，實也。太陽之精不虧。从囗、一。象形。 〔小徐本無「象形」二字。〕 凡日之屬皆从日。 【人質切】 【𡆠】，古文，象形。

Criteria
• NOON
  

  1. The general word for the period around the middle of the day is rì zhōng 日中, and this construction hovers interestingly between the sentential original meaning "the sun reaches the highest point" and the idiomatic nominal meaning "noon", "at noon", thus jí rì zhōng 及日中 can be read as "when the sun reached the highest point" or "when it got to the point in time of noon"

  NB: Shǎng 晌 is a fairly rare popular word for lunchtime that is not used before Ming times.

• NEXT
  

  1. The current general word referring to the next member of a contextually determinate series is cì 次 (ant. qián 前 "preceding"), and the series can be temporal as well as spatial or indeed abstract.

  2. Míng 明 (ant. zuó 昨 "yester-" and zǎo 早 "earlier") refers specifically to the next member of a temporal series of days, months, or years, and míng rì 明日 does not mean "tomorrow" but can refer to tomorrow and must always be understood as "the next day, counting from the other contextually definite day". The other contextually definite day can be, but need not be, the "today" of the speech act in which the word occurs.

  3. Lái 來 (ant. wǎng 往 "preceding" and xī 昔 ) is a deictic expression and refers specifically to the next member of the temporal series beginning with the present time.

  4. Yì 翌 is the ancient OBI word for a period of time that is imminent, and the word always retained a literary, elevated, and even antiquated flavour.

• QUICK
  

  1. The most current general word for anything that moves at high speed is sù 速 (ant. chí 遲 "so slowly that one becomes late").

  2. Jí 疾 (ant. xú 徐 "slowly") typically refers to urgent speedy action of limited duration.

  3. Jí 亟 (ant huǎn 緩 "too slowly") refers to maximum speed possible under prevailing circumstances.

  4. Jíé 捷 adds to the notion of maximum speed the nuance of deftness and general skill.

  5. Piāo 飄 refers specifically to the speed of wind.

  6. Xùn 迅 emphasises high speed and abruptness and eruptive violence, often in natural processes.

  7. Bù rì 不日 without delay, in a short time, quickly.

  NB: Kuài 快 came to mean "quickly" soon after Han times.

• WASTE
  

  1. The current general word for habitual wastefulness is hào 耗 (ant. liǎn 斂 "economical, parsimonious").

  2. Fèi 費 (ant. jié 節 "be economical in the use of resources") refers specifically to single acts of wastefulness.

  3. Fèi 廢 (ant. cún 存 "keep and avoid spending") refers to an inclination to use large sums without necessarily indicating that such large expenditure is wasteful.

  4. Kuàng 曠 "waste" (ant. xī 惜 "make sparing use of") is limited to the combination kuàng rì 曠日 "waste time" (ant. shěng shí 省時 "save time" seems late).

• SUN
  

  1. The standard word for the sun is rì 日.

• TIME
  

  1. An abstract general word for time as such is rì yuè 日月 or nián suì 年歲.

  2. Shí 時 refers to any period of time or point in time.

  3. Jì 際 can refer to a juncture in time.

  4. Jī 機 comes to refer to a crucial juncture or point in time, but so far no pre-Buddhist examples have been found.

• NIGHT
  

  1. Yè 夜 (ant. zhòu 晝 "daytime", and rì 日 "day (when it is bright)") is the general term referring to the part of the day when it is dark, i.e. the evening and the night.

  2. Xiāo 宵 (ant. zhòu 晝 ) refers to the night only, without including the evening, and the reference is not to the length of time so much as to the absence of sunlight.

  3. Yè fēn 夜分 (ant. rì zhōng 日中 "midday") refers to midnight.

  4. Sù 宿 refers to a night as what is spent in a hostel, or as the time one uses for sleep.

  5. Míng 冥 is occasionally used to refer, by synecdoche, to the night as the time when it is dark.

• TODAY
  

  1. The standard term for "today" is jīn rì 今日.

• DREAM
  

  1. The current standard word for a dream is mèng 夢.

  2. Xiōng mèng 凶夢 refers to a nightmare.

  ZHOULI 3 占夢：掌其歲時，觀天地之會，辨陰陽之氣。以日月星辰占六夢之吉凶，一曰正夢，二曰噩夢，三曰思夢，四曰寤夢，五曰喜夢，六曰懼夢。季冬，聘王夢，獻吉夢于王，王拜而受之。乃舍萌于四方，以贈惡夢，遂令始難驅疫。

• ECLIPSE
  

  1. The common general term for an eclipse is shí 蝕 (the earlier form being shí 食 ). It can refer both to a solar eclipse (rì shí 日蝕 ) or lunar eclipse (yuè shí 月蝕 ).

  2. Shěng 眚 is a term for an eclipse (both solar and lunar) laying an emphasis on its catastrophical connotations.

  3. Quēyǐng 闕景 refers to a solar eclipse.

• TOMORROW
  

  1. The current general word for the day following upon another given day is míng rì 明日 "the next day".

• DAY
  

  1. The general term for the day as the time of human activity is 日 (ant. 夜 "nighttime, when there is no activity", and perhaps sometimes xì 夕 "the time of day when the sun is declining and including the time when the sun has gone down but one has not yet gone to bed"). It was unclear in ancient times exactly when during the night one day ends and the next begins.

  2. Zhòu 晝 (ant. xiāo 宵 "nighttime" and yè 夜 "night") refers to that part of the day when there is daylight.

Word relations
• Subject: (SUN)出/RISE1 Attribution
• Epithet: (DAY)今/NOW The current word for the present is jīn 今. Note 趙歧on Mencius: 孟子傷今時之君 "of his time, contemporary". 1 Attribution
• Assoc: (DAYTIME)夜/NIGHT Yè 夜 (ant. zhòu 晝 "daytime", and rì 日"day (when it is bright)") is the general term referring to the part of the day when it is dark, i.e. the evening and the night. 1 Attribution
• Oppos: (DAY)夜/NIGHT Yè 夜 (ant. zhòu 晝 "daytime", and rì 日"day (when it is bright)") is the general term referring to the part of the day when it is dark, i.e. the evening and the night. 7 Attributions
• Oppos: (DAYTIME)夕/NIGHT tonight 1 Attribution