Taxonomy of meanings for 時:　　

Additional information about 時

說文解字: 【時】，四時也。从日、寺聲。 【市之切】 【旹】，古文時从㞢、日。 〔小徐本作「古文從日、㞢作。」〕

Criteria
• MOMENT
  

  1. The current general word for a very short time is xū yú 須臾.

  2. Qǐng 頃 refers to a short while, a certain reasonably short amount of time, always longer than xū yú 須臾 "a moment".

  NB: Shùn 瞚／瞬 is post-Han.

  3. Shí 時 "time" is commonly used to refer to a moment in time.

• OPPORTUNITY
  

  1. The current word for an opportunity presenting itself is shí 時.

  2. Huì 會 refers to a coincidental opportunity.

• CHINA
  

  睡虎地秦墓竹簡 1978: 226 臣邦人不安秦主而欲去夏者, 勿許. 何謂夏 ? 欲去親屬是謂夏.

  The words for China have this in common that they do NOT designate any one state. 中國 "the central states" is implicitly plural when it does not refer to the capital city. 諸夏 the various Xià (states)" is explicitly plural. The standard Imperium Romanum has no counterpart in Chinese until very late, unless one admits 天下 "all under Heaven" as a designation for the empire. But 天下 does not define any bounded empire. It remains to be seen exactly when a standard term for China was took shape. Compare the problems of finding a term for the Chinese language.

  Based on 顧頡剛 & 王樹民, “ 夏 ” 和 “ 中國 ”— 祖國古代的稱號, Zhongguo lishi dili luncong, Vol. 1 (Xi'an, 1981), 6-22).

  In the Shu and Shi sections relating to the early Zhou, 區夏 (= 夏區 ), 有夏 and 時夏 (= 是夏 ) refers to the place in which the Zhou established their capital after their conquest of Shang, in contradistinction to Zhou 掇 homeland in the West ( 西土 ) and the close Zhou allies ( 一二邦 ). The Zhou referred to their own domain as 烠 he central city-state � ( 中國 ). Since 中國 in this usage refers to the territory directly governed by the Zhou, it is singular and used in exchange with 京師 and in contradistinction with 四方 and 四國. Other states also referred to their capital regions as 啎什縕 (thus Wu in GY 19.09.01/618); a (perhaps late) variant of this word is 啎尹塹 (Yugong).

  After becoming strong, the states enfeoffed by Zhou asserted the community with the 周 by commencing to refer to themselves as 堔 L �, leading to the plural designation 埣悎 L �, used in contrast with designations like 啈 i 狄�. The distinction between the two groups was viewed as cultural, and its precise reference shifted over time, originally excluding states (like 楚 ) from the community of 諸夏 but later including them, or including them in the beginning, whilst later excluding them (like 秦 ). Some of the non- 諸夏 states were viewed as subservient to 諸夏 states, others as their enemies. The membership of 楚 to the 諸夏 circle was always insecure; it was, so to speak, was"always on probation.

  The 東夏 made up a subdivision of the 諸夏, including states such a 齊 and 魯.

  In parallel with the 堔 L � appellations arose the 埽寊 appellations, 埽寊 on its own and 埣捄寊, and, the two words may well be cognate, the common 埽堮 L �.

  In the Warring States period the cultural distinction gave way to a geographical distinction, and the 中國 states were now the state occupying the Central Plain

• WEATHER
  

  There is no commonly used general concept for the weather in pre-Buddhist Chinese. The closest we come is perhaps qì 氣 as in ZUO 天有六氣, but consider the whole passage:

  天有六氣， (In the same way) there are six heavenly influences,

  降生五味， which descend and produce the five tastes,

  發為五色， go forth in the five colours,

  徵為五聲。 and are verified in the five notes;

  淫生六疾。 but when they are in excess, they produce the six diseases.

  六氣曰陰、陽、風、雨、晦、明也， Those six influences are denominated the yin, the yang, wind, rain, obscurity, and brightness.

  分為四時， In their separation, they form the four seasons;

  序為五節， in their order, they form the five (elementary) terms.

  過則為菑： When any of them is in excess, there ensues calamity.

  陰淫寒疾， An excess of the yin leads to diseases of the cold;

  陽淫熱疾， of the yang, to diseases of heat;

  風淫末疾， of wind, to diseases of the extremities;

  雨淫腹疾， of rain, to diseases of the belly;

  晦淫惑疾， of obscurity, to diseases of delusion;

  明淫心疾。 of brightness to diseases of the mind.

• 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).

• 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.

• PERIOD
  

  1. The most current general term for a period of time is shí 時, but the term often retains its connotations of "seasons of the year".

  2. Qī 期 refers to a designated period of time where something is supposed to happen.

• GENERATION
  

  1. The dominant general word for a generation is shì 世, and this word has strong temporal connotations referring to the period of one generation, and the word has a certain syntactic flexibility. Sān shì 三世 refers to three generations.

  2. Dài 代 refers to the length of a whole dynasty comprising several generations, and the word in this meaning has little syntactic flexibility. Sān dài 三代 refers to three dynasties Xià, Shāng, and Zhōu. See DYNASTY

  3. Jì 紀 refers to a cycle of 12 years, sān jì 三紀 refers to a period of thirty-six years, but from Later Han times, the reference is often more generally to a generation.

  4. Tiān xià 天下 "all under Heaven" often refers generally to all people alive at a certain time.

  5. Shí rén 時人 refers specifically and prosaically to the people of the time.

• WHEN
  

  1. The current general word for "when" is the pre-sentential bì 比.

  2. Jí 及 and zhì 至 is somewhat less grammaticalised and works like "when things got to the point when".

  3. Dāng 當 "during the period when" refers both to very short and quite periods of time.

  4. Qí 其 "when" really only serves to mark a general subordinating particle which occasionally comes to be translatable by "when".

  5. Yě 也 is frequently used at the end of sentences to form temporal subordinate clauses which provide background, often in conjunction with qí 其.

  NB: Sentence-final shí 時 "at the time when" is very rare in pre-Buddhist texts but becomes ubiquitous in Buddhist literature. The predecessor of this construction "S 之時 " "when S happened" is current in pre-Buddhist texts.

• 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。

• ENDURING
  

  1. The general word for something which is constant and lasting in time is jiǔ 久 (ant. qǐng 頃 "for a short time"), which can refer to bounded or unbounded and open-ended persistence in time.

  2. Cháng 長 (ant. duǎn 短 "of short duration") expresses bounded enduringness with a definite final point being typically imagined, although in cháng shēng 長生 the word refers to an unending long life.

  3. Cháng 常 and the especially emphatic héng 恆 "highly constant and permanent" (ant.* ǒu 偶 "contingency and consequent changeability") emphasise the constancy or constant recurrence of the attributes of what is lasting, and typically - though not always - the constancy is valued positively.

  4. Bì 必 refers to something being an invariable event that always tends to occur.

  5. Shí 時 "recurrently, constantly" allows for something being present or having certain attributes intermittently but over a long stretch of time.

  6. Yóng 永 "last for a while" (ant. zàn 暫 "temporary" post-Buddhist, Six Dynasties: temporarily) is an elevated and poetic word often referring to subjectively experienced long duration.

• SEASON
  

  1. The general term for a season is shí 時, and the primary seasons are chūn 春 and qiū 秋, in Warring States times the names of the Four Seasons became current.

  2. Jì 季 refers to the last month of each season.

Word relations
• Object: (MOMENT)失/NEGLECT1 Attribution
• Object: (OPPORTUNITY)待/WAIT the current general word for waiting 1 Attribution
• Object: (SEASON)隨/FOLLOW Suí 隨 is to move along literally behind someone, by a deliberate act of volition. 1 Attribution
• Object: (TIME)應/REACT The general term for a responding action is yìng 應 (ant. gǎn 感 "stimulate"). 1 Attribution
• Epithet: (MOMENT)是/THIS1 Attribution
• Epithet: (SEASON)四/FOUR four 2 Attributions
• Epithet: (SEASON)天/GOD Tiān 天 refers to the - often personified or semi-personified - God of Heaven. 1 Attribution
• Epithet: (SEASON)雨/RAIN The general word for rain of any kind is yǔ 雨. 5 Attributions
• Epithet: (TIME)變/CHANGE The most current general words for objective and typically abrupt change are biàn 變 "change from one's original state to become something different" (ant. héng �� "remain constant"). 1 Attribution
• Contrast: (OFTEN)常/ENDURING Cháng 常 and the especially emphatic héng 恆 "highly constant and permanent" (ant.* ǒu 偶 "contingency and consequent changeability") emphasise the constancy or constant recurrence of the attributes of what is lasting, and typically - though not always - the constancy is valued positively.
• Contrast: (SEASON)節/SEASON