Taxonomy of meanings for 沒:　　

  • 沒 mò (OC: mɯɯd MC: muot) 莫勃切 入 廣韻：【沈也又虜三字姓有沒路眞氏出後魏書莫勃切六 】
    • SINK
      • vadNsubmerged in water; diving (沒人 diver)
      • vichangego under, but not necessarily sink to the bottom of the water
      • vt+prep+Nfigurativesink into N
      • vtoNsink into, sink into so as to drown in; dive into (water); get to the bottom of (a staircase)
      • vtoNcausativecause N to sinkCH
      • in air>FALL
          • have fall out (from one's mouth)>LOSE
            • vtoNbe faced with the loss of (one's teeth), lose
        • resultative>DROWN
          • vithrow oneself into the water
          • vtoNdrown 沒身
          • vtoNfigurativebe drowned in
          • vtoNmiddle voicebe drowned in
          • generalised>DISAPPEAR
            • vichangego under (of the sun etc)
            • vifigurativeGO UNDER> disappear, be no more; be forgotten
            • vtoNsee disappear, have disappear for one　???
            • causative>EXHAUST
                • concrete: take away all>CONFISCATE
                    • abstract>WHOLE
                      • vadNwhole (generation) 沒世
                  • one's energy>TIRED
                    • vibe exhausting
                  • possibilities of profit>GREEDY
                    • causative>DESTROY
                        • resultative>WIN
                        • object: lifetime> =歿 figurative>DIE
                          • vichangedie; have died, be dead
                          • vadVuntil death of
                          • vistativehave died, be dead
                          • nabprocessdeath
                          • vichangedie a natural death
                          • causative>KILL
                            • vtoNcausativecause to go under, bring about the death of
                • =莫
                • =昧
              • 没 mei4 【集韻】莫佩切，音妹。亦沈也。
              • 没 mo4《集韻》母果切，上果明。《集韻。果韻》：没，不知而問曰"拾没".

                Additional information about 沒

                說文解字:

                  Criteria
                • LIVE

                  1. The current standard word for being alive is shēng 生 (ant. sǐ 死 "be dead").

                  2. Cún 存 (ant. wáng 亡 ) and zài 在 (ant. mò 沒 / 歿 "go under") refer to continuing in the state of being alive, but the word also refers to continued existence in general.

                  3. Huó 活 (ant. sǐ 死 ) specifically refers to the state of being alive when one might have been dead, and strongly connotes not only a failure to die but also the continued existence of life energy.

                  4. Mìng 命 refers specifically to one's life-span and not to the content of one's life that might be described in a biography.

                  5. Shēn 身 comes to refer to the life one conducts as in xíng shēn 行身 "conduct one's life" (Greek bios), and, and to one's lifespan as in zhōng shēn 終身 "all one's life".

                  6. Shòu 壽 (yāo 夭 "short life ended by an unnaturally early death") refers specifically to a lifespan as long as it naturally can be and should be.

                • DISAPPEAR

                  1. The dominant word for ceasing to exist is wáng 亡 (and there is no early evidence for the reading wú 亡 ).

                  2. Mò 沒 "go under" is a dramatic verb referring to the disappearance of something.

                  3. Xí 息 "be extinguished" is a politely periphrastic way of referring to the disappearance of something.

                  4. Què 闕 can refer to the disappearance of a practice.

                • 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.

                • SINK

                  1. The most current general word for the process sinking is probably chén 沈 (ant. fú 浮 "float").

                  2. Mò 沒 "get submerged" (ant. piāo 漂 "float") expresses the result of chén 沈 "sinking".

                  3. Lún 淪 "sink into" (ant. fàn 汎 "float") has abstract usages where the word means "go under" and gets close in meaning to wáng 亡 "be ruined".

                  4. Miǎn 湎 "get immersed in" is mostly used in transferred senses such as "get immersed in wine" and thus gets close in meaning to dān 耽 "get addicted to".

                  Word relations
                • Ant: (DIE)在/LIVE Cún 存 (ant. wáng 亡) and zài 在 (ant. mò 沒/歿 "go under") refer to continuing in the state of being alive, but the word also refers to continued existence in general.
                • Ant: (DIE)存/PERSIST The current general word for the persistence of something is cún 存(ant. wáng 亡 "cease to exist").
                • Assoc: (DIE)滅/DESTROY 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.