Taxonomy of meanings for 殘:　　

Additional information about 殘

說文解字: 【殘】，賊也。从歺、戔聲。 【昨干切】

Criteria
• SYMPATHY
  

  1. The standard word for sympathy and commiseration in psychological attitude as well as in action is xù 恤 / 卹 (ant. rěn 忍 "heartless").

  2. Mǐn 閔／憫 (ant. cán 殘 "cruel and heartless") is a purely psychological word referring to feelings of deep concern and sympathy, often coupled with sadness and a desire to act to improve things. See also SADNESS

  3. Jīn 矜 expresses, apparently, a somewhat higher intensity in the purely psychological feelings of sympathy.

  4. Āi 哀 refers to passive concern for what one unfortunately can do little about.

  5. Lián 憐 refers to sympathy as loving warm concern and a wish to show this loving concern in action.

• GOOD
  

  1. The general term for positive appraisal of human capacities of any kind is shàn 善 (ant. è 惡 "bad").

  2. Rén 仁 (ant. cán 殘 "unfeeling") refers to kind-heartedness as an attitude directed towards moral behaviour. See BENEVOLENCE

  3. Lián 廉 (ant. tān 貪 "greedy for bribery gifts") refers to moral probity and impeccability.

  4. Zhí 直 (ant. qǔ 曲 "devious") refers to moral straightforwardness and uprightness.

  5. Zhōng 衷 (ant. xié 邪 "wicked") refers to devoted uprightness of character. See also EARNEST

  6. Qīng 清 (ant. zhuó 濁 "defiled and corrupt") can be used to refer to moral purity.

  7. Shú 淑 is a highly poetic word referring to admirable moral qualities in general, typically in women.

  8. Jūn zǐ 君子 (ant. xiǎo rén 小人 "petty man") refers to high moral qualities and capacities, especially in men.

  <div>9. Zāng 臧 (pí 否 "good-for-nothing") is an archaic neutral unemotional objective term for goodness.</div><div><br></div><div>10. Rén yì 仁義, when it is not simply listing benevolence and righteousness, commonly refers quite generally (by synecdoche) to moral goodness or the moral virtues LIKE benevolence and righteousness and not in fact to just two of the virtues.<br></div><br>

• CRUEL
  

  1. The current general word for psychological cruelty is rěn 忍 (ant. cí 慈 "show kind loving concern"), and the current general word for cruelty in action is cán 殘 (ant. rén 仁 "kind-heartedness").

  2. NŸè 虐 (ant. fǔ 撫 "take good care of, show proper concern for subordinates or subjects") refers to wanton cruelty in the exercise of political authority.

  3. Lì 戾 typically refers to deliberate cruelty for its own sake, typically by those in political authority, viewed as a political mistake. See SEVERE

  4. Bào 暴 refers to a propensity towards public violence by those in authority, viewed as a character defect. See VIOLENT

• DESTROY
  

  1. The current general word for destruction of any kind is huǐ 毀, and what is destroyed may anything from a toy or a house to a state.

  2. Miè 滅 refers to the physical destruction of cities or states, and the word implies the use of external military force, and typically military resistance.

  3. Pò 破 is always violent destruction of concrete objects of any kind.

  4. Cán 殘 focusses on the reckless attitude shown by the destroyer.

  5. Yāng 殃 focusses on the disaster constituted by destruction, and this word is used mostly nominally.

  6. Suì 碎 focusses on complete smashing into small pieces of what is destroyed.

  7. Huài 壞 and huī 墮 / 隳 are "to be destroyed, to collapse" but the words are also used transitively "cause to be destroyed, cause to collapse".

  8. Wáng 亡 (ant. fù 復 "reestablish") refers to the political/social ruin of a state and does not focus on any form of physical annihilation or damage.

  9. Bài 敗 and zéi 賊 are currently used for the destruction of abstract things such as dé 德 "virtue".

• BENEVOLENCE
  

  [ABSOLUTE/GRADED]

  [[CURRENT/RARE]]

  [ELEVATED/FAMILIAR]

  [ETHICAL/FACTUAL]

  [EMOTIONAL/UNEMOTIONAL]

  [HIGH-DEGREE/LOW-DEGREE]

  [PRACTICAL/PSYCHOLOGICAL]

  1. Rén 仁 (ant. cán 殘 "cruel" and perhaps ant.* rěn 忍 "be callous, unfeeling") which refers to kind-heartedness and deep human sensibility as a constitutive feature of man as a moral being, is the standard word since Confucius.

  [ETHICAL], [HIGH-DEGREE]

  2. Cí 慈 (ant. rěn 忍 "callous, unfeeling") is primarily the intimate emotional concern of mothers/parents for their children, and by extension such concern of a fatherly ruler for his people. (See LOVE)

  [EMOTIONAL], [PRACTICAL]

  3. Xiào 孝 refers to caring love for one's parents and one's ancestors. SEE LOVE.

  4. Huì 惠 "kind generosity" (ant. sè 嗇 "stinginess") is kind-heartedness in generous action of various kinds and displayed towards inferiors. See GENEROUS

  [PRACTICAL]

  5. Shàn 善 "goodness in action" (ant. è 惡 "wicked") belongs more properly into the group GOOD, but the word does come to refer to altruistic moral concern for others and thus relates to the present group.

  [ETHICAL], [GRADED], [MARGINAL]; [[RARE]]

  6. Mín 旻 refers in a ritual elevated manner to the beneficence and compassion of Heaven and of the sky (in CC).

  [ARCHAIC], [ELEVATED], [HIGH-DEGREE]; [[RARE]]

• WHOLE
  

  1. The most general word for the whole of something is yī 一.

  2. Quán 全 (ant. cán 殘 "impaired") indicates that what is referred to is being referred to in its entirety and in an undiminished state.

  3. Jǔ 舉 "the whole of" is frequent but limited to the the idiomatic phrase jǔ guó 舉國 "the whole state".

  4. Jī 期 "the whole of" is fairly frequent but limited to the idiomatic phrases jī nián 期年 "the whole year" and jī yuè 期月 "the whole month".

• PERFECT
  

  1. The current general word for ultimate perfection is zhì 至 (ant.* liè 劣 "very inferior").

  2. Jí 極 refers to the attainment of an ultimate point or an ultimate stage.

  3. Jué 絕 focusses on the comparative aspect of excelling all others.

  4. Yōu 優 (ant. liè 劣 "very inferior") focusses on the comparative aspect of excelling most others.

  5. Quán 全 (ant. cán 殘 "seriously deficient") focusses on the complete presence of some conditions of excellence.

Word relations
• Contrast: (CRUEL)暴/CRUEL Bào 暴 refers to a propensity towards public violence by those in authority, viewed as a character defect. See VIOLENT
• Assoc: (DESTROY)賊/DESTROY1 Attribution