Taxonomy of meanings for 短:　　

Additional information about 短

說文解字: 【短】，有所長短，以矢爲正。从矢、豆聲。 【都管切】

Criteria
• SHORT
  

  1. The current general term for shortness is duǎn 短 (ant. cháng 長 "long").

  2. Jìng 徑 refers specifically to the shortness of a walking distance or a travelling distance.

  NB: Cuó 矬 and ǎi 矮 "of short stature" are apparently post-Han (NANBEICHAO/SONG).

• LONG
  

  1. The dominant general term for length is cháng 長 (ant. duǎn 短 "short").

  2. Xiū 修 / 脩 is Chu dialect for "long". The word is often used as a taboo equivalent for cháng 長 when the latter has to be avoided because it is the name of an emperor.

  3. Zhāng 張 (ant. suō 縮 "shortened") refers to something that is longer than expected or longer than it was before.

  4. Yōu 悠 can occasionally refer to something being long so as to take a long time to pass through. See ENDURING

  5. Màn màn 漫漫 refers to something having a long horizontal extension. See ENDURING

• INCOMPETENT
  

  1. The most current and general word for incompetence is bù xiào 不肖 (ant. xián 賢 "distinguished talent").

  2. Nú 駑 (ant. jùn 駿 "talented" and jùn 俊 "talented") refers prototypically to the lack of skills in a horse, but is often used metaphorically to refer to lack of outstanding talent in general. [see INFERIOR]

  3. Duǎn 短 (ant. cháng 長 "of some excellence") refers to a distinct shortcoming in the form of a specific point of incompetence.

  4. Zhuó 拙 refers - typically in polite discourse to one's own - ineptness. [see STUPID]

• EXCELLENT
  

  1. The standard current general word for anything or anyone who naturally meets certain generally accepted high standards of excellence is liáng 良 (ant. liè 劣 "inferior").

  2. Shàn 善 (ant. zhuó 拙 "inept"), when the word does not mean moral goodness, but is close in meaning to liáng 良, refers to an acquired specific skill or propensity for certain forms of action.

  3. Jīng 精 (of general application) (ant. cū 粗 "of only rough quality") and ruì 銳 (typically applied to military prowess) (ant. dùn 鈍 "of lesser quality") refer to above-average performance without suggestion individual excellence.

  4. Yōu 優 (ant. liè 劣 "inferior") and cháng 長 (ant. duǎn 短 "of lesser quality") refers to a distinct advantage in excellence compared with some reference group or some point of reference.

  5. Gōng 工 (ant. yú 寙 "fumbling, inept") is to be specialised in something concrete or even professional in an area, typically a craft.

  6. Jiā 佳 (ant. xià 下 "inferior in quality") implies manifestly recognised striking excellence regarding such qualities such as beauty or moral cultivation.

  7. Měi 美 (ant. è 惡 "of bad quality") when it does not have its standard meaning "beauty" indicates striking or admirable high quality of anything concrete or abstract.

  8. Jiā 嘉 (ant. yōng 庸 "mediocre") refers to manifestly recognised striking excellence, typically of an abstract kind.

  9. Zhǐ 旨 (ant. báo 薄 "of slight quality") refers specifically to excellence in the quality of wine, and sometimes to other foodstuffs.

  10. Jùn 駿 (ant. nú 駑 "miserable hag") refers specifically to excellence in horses, and by extension occasionally serves as metaphoric for outstanding personalities.

• SIZE
  

  1. The abstract notion of size is standardly expressed by dà xiǎo 大小.

  2. Cháng duǎn 長短 refers to relative length.

• JACKET
  

  1. The general term for upper garments is yī 衣, as opposed to cháng 裳 "lower garments".

  2. Rú 襦 refers to a long-sleeved type of short padded jacket convenient to wear while working.

  3. Yú 衧 very elegant long-sleeved jacket worn by women.

  4. Shù 裋 is rare in early texts and refers to a rather longish light plain jacket, and the focus is on the simple and plain style of the jacket rather than the material it is made of, mainly from Han times onwards.

  5. Hè 褐 refers to a rough jacket made of kudzo vine in early times, but later also of hemp.

  6. Shù hè 裋褐 "plain jackets" (often written duǎn hè 短褐 ) commonly refers to rough or plain jackets worn by persons of humble status.

• ENDURING
  

  1. The general word for something which is constant and lasting in time is jiǔ 久 (ant. qǐng 頃 "for a short time"), which can refer to bounded or unbounded and open-ended persistence in time.

  2. Cháng 長 (ant. duǎn 短 "of short duration") expresses bounded enduringness with a definite final point being typically imagined, although in cháng shēng 長生 the word refers to an unending long life.

  3. Cháng 常 and the especially emphatic héng 恆 "highly constant and permanent" (ant.* ǒu 偶 "contingency and consequent changeability") emphasise the constancy or constant recurrence of the attributes of what is lasting, and typically - though not always - the constancy is valued positively.

  4. Bì 必 refers to something being an invariable event that always tends to occur.

  5. Shí 時 "recurrently, constantly" allows for something being present or having certain attributes intermittently but over a long stretch of time.

  6. Yóng 永 "last for a while" (ant. zàn 暫 "temporary" post-Buddhist, Six Dynasties: temporarily) is an elevated and poetic word often referring to subjectively experienced long duration.

Word relations
• Ant: (SHORT)長/LONG The dominant general term for length is cháng 長 (ant. duǎn 短 "short"). 6 Attributions
• Ant: (BRIEF)長/ENDURING Cháng 長 (ant. duǎn 短 "of short duration") expresses bounded enduringness with a definite final point being typically imagined, although in cháng shēng 長生 the word refers to an unending long life.
• Ant: (INCOMPETENT)長/EXCELLENT Yōu 優 (ant. liè 劣 "inferior") and cháng 長 (ant. duǎn 短 "of lesser quality") refers to a distinct advantage in excellence compared with some reference group or some point of reference. 1 Attribution
• Ant: (SHORT)脩/LONG1 Attribution
• Epithet: (SHORT)命/LIVE 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. 2 Attributions
• Contrast: (SHORT)小/SMALL The dominant quite general word is xiǎo 小 (ant. dà 大 "big"), and this word refers to both physical size and abstract importance.