Taxonomy of meanings for 殤:　　

  • shàng (OC: lʰaŋs MC: ɕiɐŋ) 式亮切 去 廣韻：【未成人死或作殤又音商 】
    • DIE
      • vichangemeet a tragic early death before the age of maturity (20); die early
      • vtoNattitudinalto treat somebody (in the funeral rites) as if he had died prematurely
      • v[adN]nonreferentialsomebody who died prematurely
      • vadNhaving died prematurely

    Additional information about 殤

    說文解字: 【殤】，不成人也。人年十九至十六死爲長殤，十五至十二死爲中殤，十一至八歲死爲下殤。从歺、傷省聲。 【式陽切】

      Criteria
    • DIE

      1. The dominant general word is sǐ 死 (ant. shēng 生 "be alive"), and this can refer to the death of plants as well as animals or men.

      2. Bēng 崩 refers to the death of an emperor.

      3. Hōng 薨 and cú 殂 / 徂 refers to the death of a senior official.

      4. Zú 卒 is specifically the death of a common citizen, but occasionally also used to refer to the death of senior persons like dukes.

      5. Piǎo 殍 and jǐn 殣 "(of common people) starve to death, die in the gutters" refer distinctly to the death of ordinary people.

      6. Mò 沒 / 歿 (ant. cún 存 "survive") and zhōng 終 are abstract elevated, polite words to use about the death of a significant person.

      7. Yì 殪 "get killed" is the result of violent action.

      8. Yāo (old: yǎo) 夭, yǎo 殀 and shāng 殤 (ant. shòu 壽 "long-lived") refer to an early and not just untimely death.

      9. Jí22 shì 即世 refers to the death of high-ranking personalities in the bureaucracy.

      10. Wáng 亡 "cease to be" is a polite and periphrastic way of referring to death.

      11. Xùn 殉 refers to the act of laying down one's life, dying for a cause.

      NB: The periphrastic vocabulary of Chinese referring to death is extraordinarily large. I have more than 900 terms - if modern locutions gēbēr sǐ 咯嘣兒死 "die" are included.