Taxonomy of meanings for 早:　　

  • 早 zǎo (OC: tsuuʔ MC: tsɑu) 子晧切 上 廣韻：【晨也子晧切十二 】
    • MORNING
      • nearly morning
      • vadVearly in the morning
      • vi0be early in the day, be morning
      • vi0adNwhen it is early
      • intensitive: too>EARLY
        • vi0be too early
        • vigradedbe earlier
        • vadVnegativeprematurely, too early; so early
        • vi0adN(the time) when it is early
        • vadVas early as possible; appropriately early
        • vibe earlyCH
        • vadVvery earlyCH
        • early in one's life>YOUNG
        • generalised: beginning>BEGIN
          • feature>FIRST
              • grammaticalised>WHEN
                • transitive>PRECEDE
                    • grammaticalised>BEFORE
                        • (late) grammaticalised>ALREADY
                          • vadVcolloquialalready; already from the start
                        • in good time>TIMELY
                          • vadVin good time, at an early stage; at an earlier stage, at a sufficiently early stage
                          • viactact in good time
                          • nabactacting in good time, being timely
                          • vpostadVin good time; at an early stage
                        • at good speed>QUICK
                  • SURNAMES

                    Additional information about 早

                    說文解字:

                      Criteria
                    • EARLY

                      1. The current word for early, referring both to periods in one's life and time in the year or the day, is zǎo 早 (ant. wǎn 晚 "late"), but the word often specifically means "too early".

                      2. Sù 夙 (ant. chí 遲 "late, too late") refers specifically to the early period in one's life.

                      3. Xiān 先 is relative and refers to the period earlier than something else.

                      4. Yù 豫／預 refers to a point in time suitably early, earlier than necessary, or earlier than expected.

                      5. Yāo 夭 refers specifically to prematureness of death.

                    • 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.

                    • LATE

                      1. The current general word for lateness is hòu 後 (ant. xiān 先 "earlier"), and this word refers to anything that comes later in time than something else.

                      2. Yàn 晏 (ant. zǎo 早 "early") refers to a time later that what is acceptable.

                      3. Wǎn 晚 (ant. zǎo 早 "early") can refer a point in time much later than presupposed, or a time much later than the previous event.

                      4. Chí 遲 (ant. zǎo 早 "early") refers to a failure to make the speed required of one.

                    • MORNING

                      1. The current general word for the morning is zhāo 朝 (ant. xì 夕 "evening") 。

                      2. Sù 夙 (ant. yè 夜 "night") refers generically to the early morning and is almost still a part of the night, yè 夜, since it is a time where the moon is still out. It never refers specifically to the morning of a given day.

                      3. Mèi shuǎng 昧爽 (ant. huáng hūn 黃昏 "dusk, or the time just after dusk") refers specifically to the time of dawn or just before dawn.

                      4. Píng míng 平明 refers exactly to the point of daybreak.

                      5. Chén 晨 (hūn 昏 "dusk") refers to the period after sunrise but before the late morning, and occasionally the word does also include the time just before sunrise.

                      6. Dàn 旦 (ant. xì 夕 "in the evening") refers to the morning right until sunrise, when it is already quite bright and the moon is no longer visible, thus reaching somewhat more into the day than sù 夙 and zǎo 早.

                      7. Xiǎo 曉 (ant. xiāo 宵 "evening") is exceedingly rare in pre-Buddhist texts and refers to the part of the morning where the sun is already shining.

                      8. Míng 明 (ant. míng 冥 "darkness, the dark" mù 暮 "dusk") refers to the early morning in OBI.

                      9. Zǎo 早 (ant. wǎn 晚 "late") is often used to refer in a somewhat diffuse way to the very early morning as the time preceding ordinary activities.

                      DK: See Tunnan 42 for an important inscription on times of day. CH: SHIJI 55, beginning, has a nice sequence on timewords referring to parts of the day.

                      Word relations
                    • Ant: (EARLY)晏/LATE Yàn 晏 (ant. zǎo 早"early") refers to a time later that what is acceptable.
                    • Ant: (TIMELY)晚/LATE Wǎn 晚 (ant. zǎo 早"early") can refer a point in time much later than presupposed, or a time much later than the previous event.