Additional information about 暝
說文解字:
- Criteria
- PEOPLE
1. The dominant current general word for the people is mín 民 (ant. jūn 君 "ruler"), and this term refers inclusively to all the people particularly insofar as they are ruled by a ruler or belong to a state (xiǎo mín 小民 are the ordinary people). [ 夫民之為言也暝也，萌之為言也（肓）〔盲〕也，故惟上之所扶而以之，民無不化也。故曰：「民萌。」民萌哉！ ( 直言其意而為之名也 ) Xinshu 9
2. Bǎi xìng 百姓 (ant. jūn zhǔ 君主 "ruler") typically refers to the registered senior families in a state who are under the control of the ruler and contribute taxes as well as military service to him; but from earliest times this term was occasionally used to refer generally to the populace at large.
3. Rén 人 (ant. wáng 王 "king") is sometimes used generically for those people who were taken to have a political voice, as in Yīn rén 殷人 "the people of Yīn".
4. Méng 氓 / 萌 (ant.* shì mín 士民 "citizens") refers specifically to the common people belonging to the lower echelons of society.
5. Zhòng 眾, shù 庶 and the rarer and more rarified words 蒸 and lí 黎 refer to the masses of the people under the aspect of their numerousness.
6. Qián shǒu 黔首 "black-headed people" is the current word for the people especially promoted by the Qin dynasty.
7. Shì mín 士民 refers to senior registered citizens with a certain political influence; but the term can also be used collectively to refer to the freemen/gentleman shì 士 on the one hand, and the common people mín 民 on the other.
8. Guó rén 國人 refers not to the people in a state, but specifically to the senior citizens in the capital.
9. Mín rén 民人 is a very current way of referring to the people without suggesting any low or high status.
10. Shù rén 庶人 is the technical term for the non-office-holding commoners in a country.