Taxonomy of meanings for 比:　　

  • bǐ (OC: piʔ MC: pi) 卑履切 上 廣韻：【校也並也爾雅曰北方有比肩民焉迭食而迭望蓋半體人也又毗鼻邲三音 】
  • JUXTAPOSE
    • vadNaligned
    • vtoNadjust to fit closely together, allign so that things become adjacent to each other
    • vi2be aligned, be close to each otherLZ
    • assemblage> GATHER
      • vtoNassemble (SHI)
    • cognitive> COMPARE
      • nabcomparison; point of comparison
      • vt{PASS}oN1.postadN2compared to
      • vt+prep+Nbe comparable to
      • vtoNjuxtapose and compare as similar; make comparisons with
      • vtoNpassivebe juxtaposed and considered as comparable, be compared
      • vtt(oN1.)+prep+N2omcompare the contextually determinate object N1 to (something N2)
      • vtt[0](oN.)+prep+N:adVto V by comparison with N
      • vtt[0](oN1.)+N2:adVif one compares it with; by comparison with
      • vtt[0]oN1.+prep+N2one can compare/liken N1 to N2
      • vttoN1:postvtoN2compare
      • vttoN1.+N2compare (something N1) to (something else N2)
      • vttoN1.+prep+N2compare (something or somebody N1) to (something or somebody N2)爾何曾比予於管仲
    • resultative> NEAR
      • vadNneighbouring 比室 "neighbouring houses"
      • vtoNkeep together (as shoulders), keep close to and rely on
      • grammaticalised: in time> WHEN
        • vt0oS1.adS2when, at the point when
        • vtoN.adVby the time of NCH
        • specifically> PAST
        • action> CONFORM
          • vtoNstativebe appropriate for
          • vtoN.adVaccording to, in conformity withLZ
          • vt+prep+Nbe appropriate for, be aligned to, conform toCH
          • conative> EMULATE
            • vtoNemulate
          • abstract> RESEMBLE
            • vtoNcopulabe like, be along the same lines as
            • vttoN1.+N2causativecause (oneself) to resemble a man of superior character
            • vttoN1.+prep+N2to be just like (something), succeed in reaching a standard (of something)
            • at many resembling times> OFTEN
              • vadVin-a-row> frequently
      • social> COOPERATE
        • vtoNjoin with, ally onself with
        • agent> FRIEND
          • vtoNbe on friendly terms with 與x比　(an object typically introduced by a preposed prepositional phrase)
          • nabpsychpartial friendship
          • keep to> FOLLOW
            • vt[oN]figurativefollow the smoothly; fit into the contextCH
            • join> RALLY
              • vtoNrally to, show loyalty towards
              • group> FACTION
                • vt[oN]form factions, gang upLZ
                • feature: specific> PARTIAL
                  • viactbe partial; form factions
          • action: support> HELP
              • grammaticalised> FOR
                • vtoN.adVon behalf of
      • bì (OC: bis MC: bi) 毗至切 去 廣韻：【近也又阿黨也又房脂必履扶必三切 】
        • bì FIT
          • DELETEfit the contextCH
      • bì (OC: biɡ MC: bit) 毗必切 入 廣韻：【比次又毗妣鼻三音 】
      • bì (OC: pis MC: pi) 必至切 去 廣韻：【近也併也 】
      • pí (OC: bi MC: bi) 房脂切 平 廣韻：【和也並也又匕鼻邲三音 】

        Additional information about 比

        說文解字: 【比】，密也。二人爲从，反从爲比。凡比之屬皆从比。 【毗至切】 【夶】，古文比。

          Criteria
        • COMB

          1. The standard ancient word for a comb is jié 櫛 in Han times. Combs can be made of wood, bone, bamboo, horn or ivory.

          2. Shū 梳 is a rare word in antiquity which first became current in Han times, according to SHUOWEN, the term should refer to the comb with teeth far apart.

          3. Tì 揥 refers to the comb-pin, which in early times are usually made of ivory:

          4. Bì ｂｉ (FIND CHARACTER IN UNICODE) is a term for the comb with teeth close together; in SHUOWEN called bǐ 比.

        • REACH

          1. The current general word for reaching a place or even an abstract stage is jí 及.

          2. Dào 到 is concrete and typically refers to reaching a point in space.

          3. Bǐ jí 比及 refers to reaching a point in time.

          4. Dài 逮 refers to catching up or reaching a certain desirable stage or level of achievement. See also CATCH UP.

        • PARTIAL

          1. The current general word for being partial rather than catholic in orientation of coverage is piān 偏 (ant. quán 全 "completely").

          2. Bǐ 比 (ant. zhōu 周 "catholic") refers to partiality in the context of political cooperation.

          3. Yǐ 倚 and the rarer jī 畸 (ant. zhōng 中 "be fair and unbiased") refers to leaning to one side physically or metaphorically.

        • EMPATHY

          將心比心

          Latin unanimus (see Servius on Aeneid 4.8f).

        • COMPARE

          1. The standard word for lining up things for comparison is bǐ 比, and the comparison may be expressed in language or pure psychological. Any two things compared may often be of similar importance to the person who is doing the comparing.

          2. Yù 喻 is to illustrate a point by the rhetorical means of comparison (and thus make one's meaning clear).

          3. Pì 譬 is close in meaning to bǐ 比, but the word always refers to comparisons that are made linguistically explicit, and there is always one thing (typically something hard to understand) which is illustrated by something else that is much easier to understand. Syntactically, pì 譬 is special in that it standardly takes the object pronoun zhī 之.

        • BEAUTIFUL

          [ABSOLUTE/GRADED]

          [ACOUSTIC/VISUAL]

          [ARTIFICIAL/NATURAL]

          [[COMMON/RARE]]

          [ELEVATED/VULGAR]

          [GENERAL/SPECIFIC]

          [HUMAN/NON-HUMAN]

          [POETIC/PROSAIC]

          1. The general word is měi 美 "handsome and admirable" (ant. è 惡 "ugly") which refers to anything concrete or abstract which is attractive or handsome in a dignified way, and the word often retains its primary culinary sense of "tasty".

          [GENERAL], [GRADED]; [[COMMON]]

          2. Lì 麗 (ant. sù 素 "unaodorned") is often restricted to physical objects, prototypically to clothes, and emphasises their balanced symmetric beauty, occasionally also - by analogy - the well-aligned symmetric beauty of mountains.

          [ELEVATED], [NON-HUMAN], [VISUAL!]

          3. Wén 文 (ant. zhì 質 "merely material") emphasises cultivated external as well as internal elegance as well as traditionalism.

          [ARTIFICIAL], [ELEVATED], [NON-HUMAN], [VISUAL!]

          4. Yǎ 雅 (ant. sú 俗 "vulgar") emphasises primarily external elevated elegance.

          [ACOUSTIC!], [ARTIFICIAL], [ELEVATED+], [NON-HUMAN]

          5. Hǎo 好 "comely, handsome" (ant. chǒu 醜 "ugly") refers indiscriminately to men and women, but the word is sometimes more general and even abstract in application and refers to attractive words or attractive moral qualities.

          [HUMAN!], [NATURAL], [VISUAL]

          6. Xiù 秀 "of vigorous and imposing beauty" focusses on flourishing and flamboyant beauty in analogy with that of flowers.

          [ELEVATED], [NATURAL], [NON-HUMAN], [POETIC], [VISUAL]; [[RARE]]

          7. Huá 華 "of striking and colourful beauty" (ant. sú 俗 "vulgar") focusses on flourishing and flamboyant superficial or only apparent beauty, on the analogy analogy with that of flowers.

          [ARTIFICIAL], [ELEVATED], NON-HUMAN], [SUPERFICIAL], [VISUAL]

          8. Zhuàng 壯 "stately" (ant. ruò 弱 "weak and unsightly") is virile beauty associated with strength and vigour. See STRONG

          [NATURAL], [MARGINAL], [POETIC]; [[RARE]]

          9. Jiā 佳 "of outstanding beauty" (NB: liè 劣 "unremarkable" is the ant. of jiā 佳 "outstanding", and not in the meaning of "outstandingly beautiful") emphasises comparative beauty compared to others in the same group.

          [GRADED], [ELEVATED], [NATURAL], [POETIC]

          10. Dū 都 "urbane and exquisitely beautiful" (ant. bì 鄙 "rustic and inelegant") is a highly poetic word that can only be used in elevated prose.

          [ARCHAIC], [ELEVATED], [POETIC], [VISUAL]; [[RARE]]

          11. Yán 妍 "attractive and exquisite (of humans as well as human products)" (ant. chì 蚩 "unattractive") refers to elaborate beauty. See SEXY.

          [ARCHAIC], [ELEVATED], [HUMAN], [POETIC]; [[RARE]]

          12. Xiū 脩 / 修 "refined moral beauty" refers to moral as well as physical beauty, thus coming close the Greek kalokagathia, but never approaching the latter in importance as a cultural keyword.

          <div>[ELEVATED], [ARTIFICIAL]; [[RARE]]</div><div><br></div><div>吳蓬，東方審美詞彙集萃，上海文藝出版社，2002 lists the following rough definitions of a variety of terms of aesthetic appreciation by the artist and scholar Wu Peng. Many of these terms express conventional appreciative flattery only. This list does provide one not particularly well-known artist's subjective readings of some basic terms of traditional Chinese aesthetic approbation.</div><div>勃：富有生机之突起。<br>苍：浓的，毛的，老练的。<br>沉：沉着不浮，有重量感。<br>冲：调成和淡之意向。<br>饬：整顿。<br>粗：大而不笨者。<br>淳：清，往往易薄，然而淳是清中滋润之厚。<br>醇：与淳略同，这醇是提炼后的滋润之厚。<br>绰：与"约"字合用，即舒而不纵之意。<br>澹：平静而有幽淡之趣。<br>淡：与浓艳相对。<br>宕：放荡不拘。<br>跌：往往与"宕"字合用，即是起伏明显之状。<br>端：方正而不出偏，有稳实感。<br>敦：很实在的，结实的厚。<br>繁：众而密，有生气。<br>方：与平正同义。<br>丰：饱满而充足。<br>风：审美中之"风"指的是一种气韵格调。<br>飞：大幅度的流动。<br>刚：属于阳性的，有正力的，与柔软相对。</div><div>高：俯视一切的、超然得不一般。<br>工：规矩，不潦草。<br>孤：自我独立。<br>古：旧气，更有历史的抗怀千载之迹象。<br>骨：内在的架子。<br>犷：是跟"雄悍"接近，在粗中发展开来。<br>瑰：不单调的美。<br>乖：不和顺。<br>憨：近于拙朴而敦实。<br>酣：厚润四溢。<br>豪：激动向上之貌，有气魄。<br>宏：大而有气度。<br>厚：有沉积的饱和。<br>华：明亮而艳丽。<br>环：长久圆融之境。<br>荒：与"枯简"接近，不修饰。<br>豁：与开朗接近，然比开朗明显。<br>恢：宽广有余。<br>浑：团然一气之象，有朦胧感。<br>简：经过一番整修的减少。<br>娇：美得可爱。<br>警：审美中用此警字，往往指敏锐、颖达。<br></div><div>劲：能察觉的力。<br>精：很到位。<br>隽：精致而具内涵之美。<br>娟：秀而婉丽。<br>崛：高起而突出。<br>俊：人材杰曲之美。<br>峻：山高而陡。在书画中是浓而锋利之用笔。<br>空：有灵气之空白。<br>枯：干而毛，生的萎缩，然亦是力的显露。<br>宽：大度而畅朗。<br>旷：广阔而空灵。<br>辣：是枯毛爽直的老笔触。<br>朗：明亮而豁然。<br>琅：圆而光润。<br>伦：是同类之意，带有文明意念。<br>冷：跟"淡"与"静”接近，与浓烈相对。<br>炼：精到而有功力。<br>淋：与"漓”往往合用，是无拘束的洒落。<br>流：明显的动感。<br>迈：阔而放的超势。<br>莽：宽广而繁密的，朴直奔放的。<br>袤：与"古"字合用，即悠长久远之趣。<br>茂：有生气的繁密。<br>媚：柔美之趣。<br>宓：安而静。<br>明：清晰有亮度。<br>凝：浓重而不流动。<br>懦：毫无火气之柔软。<br>平：一般的，接近于稳。<br>朴：原始状态，形象较准。<br>嫖：与"姚"字合用，即动疾之状，而有气势。<br>奇：不一般。<br>气：生发的，迎面直扑而来的感觉。<br>清：是混的相对。其间透出一股朗气。<br>峭：山之直而险，在书画中是露锋的侧锋用笔，有明显露<br>尖状态。文章中之峭，是意气直逼。<br>遒：婉转有致，内力强劲。<br>虬：与遒类似，但动感较强，弯曲而有力度。<br>意：诚实谨慎。<br>儒：代表文人之书卷气。<br>洒：散落无拘束。<br>赡：富有与丰实。若与"疏”、"逸”组合即成"澹”或"安"之义。</div><div>骚：审美中之骚字，可引伸为风骚至风流感。<br>韶：美丽有光泽。<br>涩：在不爽快的进程中，流露出内力之美。<br>深：不是浮面的。<br>神：精与气合。高端的。<br>生：不成熟，但比成熟有味。<br>肆：任意放纵。<br>松：松是灵活自然，是一切技巧之本要。<br>瘦：与粗笨相对，在审美中的"瘦"，是指细长而精练。<br>疏：一种稀少秀朗之美。<br>肃：有立即静穆下来之势。<br>率：与潦草随便有别，爽快而直接。<br>邃：深远而悠久。<br>阅：通达之意。<br>给：与"宕"合用，是安详舒放之趣。<br>天:很自然，一片天箱之"天"。<br>恬：安静而坦然。<br>挺：直而有生气。<br>婉：柔和而曲折。<br>温：是一种暖调与缓和的综合。</div><div>巍：往往与"峨"合用，是高大厚实之趣。<br>洗：与"炼”合用，即是"精炼"之意，凡物之洁出于洗。<br>犀：与"利"字合用，即坚利。<br>熙：光明，和乐。<br>细：指细而不纤。<br>娴：文静而雅致。<br>闲：一种高雅的自由。<br>萧：疏少有致。<br>潇：散朗而润泽。<br>馨：很醇厚的香气。<br>篁："篁古”是悠远辽阔之意。<br>雄：强大，有力度，有霸气。<br>秀：灵巧的，有生气的，美好的显露。<br>虚：表象空，但并非真空。<br>雅：文气而不俗。<br>妍：鲜美而柔性。<br>严：认真，不马虎。<br>淹：一种浸沉与精深明达之境。<br>野：超脱、不规范。<br>冶：经过一番精致修饰。<br>逸：悠闲的起伏。</div><div>意：精神倾向。<br>莹：透明而幽亮。<br>雍：往往与“容"字合用，有和顺之貌。<br>幽：静而深。<br>腴：肥润而饱和。<br>郁：厚积而有生气。<br>纤：与"迥"字合用，即弯环回绕之趣。<br>遹：与"瑰"字合用，即纤迥美丽之趣。<br>渊：往往与"懿"合用，是深润而悠美之趣。<br>圆：接近于饱满润滑。<br>蕴：与"藉"合用，即内涵丰富。<br>韵：一种余味不尽之趣。<br>恣：放纵的，无拘束的。<br>滋：湿润感。<br>自：出于本性的流露。<br>质：本体的，实在的。<br>纵：放逸无拘之状。<br>拙：接近朴，形不准。<br>庄：端正之貌。<br>卓：与“荤"合用，是突出明显之状。<br></div><div><br></div><br>

        • MONK

          1. Sēngjiā 僧加 is the general term referring indifferently to monks of any religion.

          2. The general Buddhist word for a monk is sēng 僧, and this word can occasionally refer abstractly to monkhood both of monks and nuns.

          3. Héshàng 和尚 is a term of respect which is typically also used as a respectful second person pronoun.

          4. Bǐqiū 比丘 is a loan-word from the Sanskrit, and must count as a technical term for a mendicant monk.

        • 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.

        • RALLY

          1.The general word for rallying around someone or turning to some place is guī 歸 (ant. lí 離 "distance oneself from") and refers to any group of persons feeling loyal towards and showing allegiance to someone through their action.

          2. Xiàng 向 (ant. bèi 背 "turn one's back on") is allegiance in attitude which may or may not manifest itself in concrete action.

          3. Bì 比 and liú 留 are relatively rare words which refer to closing ranks behind someone and showing political support for him.

        • FACTION

          1. The current general word for a faction is dǎng 黨.

          2. Bǐ zhōu 比周 refers to political factions at royal courts.

          3. Péng dǎng 朋黨 refers to political "gangs" and friendship associations with clear political ambitions.

          4. Dǎng yǔ 黨與 refers to a group of political supporters, and the word has somewhat milder negative overtones.

          Word relations
        • Ant: (PARTIAL)周/BROAD
        • Ant: (OFTEN)希 / 稀/RARE Xī 希/稀 (ant. shuò 數 "repeatedly, many times, several times") refers to relative scarcity or sparseness both in time and in space.
        • Assoc: (JUXTAPOSE)平/FLAT The general word for flatness of any kind is píng 平 (ant. qīng 傾 "slanted downwards on one side" and perhaps xié 斜 "sloping") and it refers to anything which is horizontal and lacks inclination.
        • Assoc: (COMPARE)喻 / 諭/COMPARE Yù 喻 is to illustrate a point by the rhetorical means of comparison (and thus make one's meaning clear).
        • Synon: (COMPARE)方/COMPARE
        • Synon: (RESEMBLE)同/SAME
        • Synon: (NEAR)接/NEAR