Taxonomy of meanings for 晦:　　

Additional information about 晦

說文解字: 【晦】，月盡也。从日、每聲。 【荒內切】

Criteria
• MONTH
  

  1. The general term for a month is yuè 月, and this word is current already in OBI where it is translatable as "moon" referring literally to a lunar period.

  One might mention here:

  2. Huì 晦 refers to the last day of a month.

  3. Shuò 朔 refers to the first day of every month.

  4. Wàng 望 refers to the full moon, the sixteenth or seventeenth day of a lunar month.

  5. Xián 弦 refers to the half full moon, period around 7th/8th and 22nd/23rd day of a lunar month.

• 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.

• DARK
  

  1. The most current general word for physical shadowiness and obscurity is probably yōu 幽 (ant. míng 明 "bright"), but this word often has lyrical overtones of secluded peace.

  2. Míng 冥 (ant. guāng 光 "light"), hūn 昏 (ant. zhāo 昭 "bright") and the rarer mèi 昧 (ant. xiǎn 顯 "clear and manifest") refer freely to purely optical darkness and abstract obscurity.

  3. Xuán 玄 "very dark reddish-black" (ant. bái 白 "plain white") currently refers to mysterious obscurity of the abstract kind. See MYSTERIOUS

  4. Huì 晦 (ant. zhāng 彰 "plain and manifest") refers to obscurity, expecially of texts or of thoughts.

  5. Měng 蒙 (ant. yào 耀 "bright and clearly visible") refers to psychological dimness, obfuscation of mind.

  6. Yǐn 隱 focuses on the inaccessibility to discursive reasoning of what is mysterious.

  7. Àn 暗 / 闇 (ant. míng 明 "bright") can refer to darkness but most of the time this word actually refers abstractly to the benightedness of a ruler.

  8. Yīn 陰 "shadowy, shaded" (ant.* liàng 亮 "bright") describes the lack of light as contrasted with surrounding light.

  9. Ài 曖 is pervasive darkness as a general state, where mèi 昧 is darker than ài 曖.

  10. Hēi 黑 (ant.* hào 皓 "shiny and bright") is darkness imposed by the intrinsic darkness of pigment on an object. See BLACK.

  11. Yǎo 杳 is used in poetry as a general word referring to darkness.

  12. Wū 烏 (ant. hào 皓 "shining white") is quite rare and refers to a high degree of darkness that is without lustre not quite pitch dark.

• FAMOUS
  

  1. The current general term for illustiousness and extraordinary fame is xiǎn 顯 (ant. huì 晦 "obscure").

  2. Míng 明 (ant. yōu 幽 "without any special lustre") adds to the notion of illustriousness that of supernatural authority.

  3. Lōng 隆 and chóng 崇 (all ant. bēi 卑 "humble") adds to the general notion illustriousness overtones of elevated removedness from the world of the ordinary.

  4. Liè 烈 and hè 赫 focus on the image of glamour radiating from those who are illustrious.

  5. Wàng 望 (ant. wēi 微 "of slight fame" and hán 寒 "of no formal distinction") focusses especially on the aspect of illustriousness that consists in profound public admiration.

  6. Wén 聞 is occasionally used to refer to a state of being much heard-of and well-known.

  7. Róng 榮 refers to resplendent glory on a large scale.

• EVENING
  

  1. The current general word for the evening is xì 夕 (ant. zhāo 朝 "morning"), and the term refers to the period when the sun is declining and including the time when the sun has just gone down.

  2. Huì 晦 (ant. míng 明 "full morning, morning immediately after daybreak") and mù 暮 (ant. dàn 旦 "morning") refer to time when it is beginning to get dark. The focus is on reduced light conditions.

  3. Wǎn 晚 can refer to the evening from Han times onwards.

Word relations
• Ant: (DARK)明/BRIGHT The general term for what appears luminous or bright in the broadest sense of these terms is míng 明 (ant. àn 暗 "dark" and yǐn 隱 "dark"), a word heavily laden with religious overtones.
• Assoc: (DARK)幽/DARK The most current general word for physical shadowiness and obscurity is probably yōu 幽 (ant. míng 明 "bright"), but this word often has lyrical overtones of secluded peace. 1 Attribution
• Assoc: (DARK)冥/DARK Míng 冥 (ant. guāng 光 "light"), hūn 昏 (ant. zhāo 昭 "bright") and the rarer mèi 昧 (ant. xiǎn 顯 "clear and manifest") refer freely to purely optical darkness and abstract obscurity.