Taxonomy of meanings for 瞽:　　

  • 瞽 gǔ (OC: kaaʔ MC: kuo) 公戶切 上 廣韻：【無目 】
    • BLIND
      • nabdispositionblindness of both eyes, with eyelids almost closed, leaving only a crevice, as the result of trachoma or conjunctivitis
      • nabdispositionpsychological blindness, failure to notice what one should notice
      • v[adN]the blind (specifically those whose eyes have no pupils)
      • vadNblind
      • vibe blind
      • vifigurativeblind > ignorant, ill-informed
    • STUPID
      • POET
        • v[adN]singer; poet
        <delendum>
      • MUSICIAN

        Additional information about 瞽

        說文解字: 【瞽】，目但有眹也。 〔小徐本「眹」作「朕」。〕 从目、鼓聲。 【公戶切】

          Criteria
        • MUSICIAN

          1. The current word for female musical entertainers is nǚ yuè 女樂.

          2. Shī 師 (also expanded to refers to yuè shī 樂師 ) refers to a male music master whose competence is supposed to be practical as well as theoretical.

          3. Gǔ gōng 瞽工 is a colloquial word for a musician.

        • BLIND

          [[CONGERIES]]

          1. Gǔ 瞽 is the standard word for blindness (not necessarily congenital) where a person has eyeballs, but where the eyesight is impaired, some say typically by the eye-lids leaving only a small opening. The word also has figurative meanings.

          2. Máng 盲 (ant. míng 明 "endowed with clear sight") became the standard word for blindness, but the word can apparently also refer specifically to colour-blindness in pre-Han times.

          3. Méng 矇 / 蒙 refers specifically to blindness as a result of glaucoma, but is also current in generalised meanings referring to reduced vision.

          4. Sǒu 瞍 refers ocasionally to blindness which is the result of atrophy or lack of eyeballs (as prototypically in the case of Music Master Kuàng 師曠 ), and this is an ancient elevated word to use.

          5. Miǎo 眇 refers to blindness on one eye because of near-sightnedness or strabismus; and in post-Han times the word came to refer to blindness in both eyes.

          6. Xuàn 眩 refers to non-congenital blindness, but the word is very often used metaphorically in the sense of "blinded, dazzled".

          NB: Xiá 瞎 is post-Buddhist, SANGUO.

        • POET

          1. There is no common and current word for a poet, but note the occasional use of the term 詩人 "author of songs" and of gǔ 瞽 "blind singer".