Taxonomy of meanings for 稷:　　

  • 稷 jì (OC: tsɯɡ MC: tsɨk) 子力切 入 廣韻：【五穀之揔名一曰黍屬周禮注云社稷土穀之神有德者配食焉共工氏之子曰句龍食於社有厲山氏之子曰柱食於稷湯遷之而祀棄俗作稷亦姓后稷之後 】
  • jìDEITIES
    • nprdeity/divine protector of agricultureCH
  • qín zhāo wángRULERS OF QIN
    • NPprhumanSTANDARD NAME: King Zhāo of Qín (reigned 306 - 251)ALTERNATIVE NAMES: Qín Zhāoxiāng wáng 秦昭襄王, Jì 稷, Cè 側, Zé 則　PARENTS: Son of >Qín Huìwén wáng 秦惠文王 WIVES: ?CHILDREN: Father of >Qín Xiàowén wáng 秦孝文王

Additional information about 稷

說文解字: 【稷】，𪗉也，五穀之長。 〔小徐本「長」下有「也」。〕 从禾、畟聲。 【子力切】 【𥞷】，古文稷省。

    Criteria
  • ALTAR

    [+FIGURATIVE/LITERAL]

    [GENERAL/SPECIFIC]

    1. Tán 壇 is the general word for an altar of any kind.

    [GENERAL], [LITERAL]

    2. Shè 社 "altar of the land" is one of the major religious institutions of ancient China.

    [LITERAL], [SPECIFIC]

    3. Jì 稷 "altar dedicated to the gods of grain" is mostly used in conjunction with shè 社 and does not, by itself, represent such an important institution in Chinese cultural history.

    [LITERAL], [SPECIFIC]

    4. Shè jì 社稷 "altars of the land and grain" is also the standard Chinese term for what we might call "the Nation" in modern English, because the essence of a state was seen to be contained in the local sacrifices undertaken at these altars of the land and grain. There is characteristic semantic oscillation between the meaning ALTAR and the meaning NATION. See NATION.

    [+FIGURATIVE], [SPECIFIC]

    5. Jiāo 郊 refers to the suburban altar in the vicinity of a city.

    [LITERAL], [SPECIFIC]

  • MILLET

    Sù 粟 is the most common word for foxtail millet (Setaria italica), and it refers to it as a food and grain.

    Liáng 粱 is a fine millet grain.

    Hé 禾 is 1) a term for foxtail millet (Setaria italica) as one regards the form of a plant. 2) a specific word for a stalk of millet.

    Pēi 秠 refers to a kind of dark millet (Panicum miliaceum) with two grains in one husk.

    Jì 稷 is an ancient specific term for foxtail millet (Setaria italica), having the religious nuance.

    Shǔ 黍 is a general term for millet of Panicum miliaceum kind.

    Lù 稑 refers to foxtail millet (Setaria italica) which is sewn late and ripe early.

    Qǐ 芑 is a word for a fine millet grain used in antiquity.

  • NATION

    1. The current standard word for the nation as represented by the leading families, and opposed to the state as mere territory and inhabitants, is guó jiā 國家.

    2. Shè jì 社稷 refers to the altars of the land and grain as symbols of the nation.

    3. Bāng guó 邦國 is an ancient general territorially focussed designation for a nation which continues in nostalgic use.

    4. Zōng miào 宗廟 "ancestral temples" is the very common metonymic designation for the nation as a primarily ritual and perhaps even religious entity, and it is important that the symbolic reference to the buildings often remains relevant to the abstract meaning of the term.

    Word relations
  • Assoc: (ALTAR)社/ALTAR Shè 社 "altar of the land" is one of the major religious institutions of ancient China. [LITERAL], [SPECIFIC]