Taxonomy of meanings for 索:  

  • 索 sè (OC: slaaɡ MC: ʃɯæk) 山責切 入 廣韻:【求也取也好也 】
  • 索 suǒ (OC: slaaɡ MC: ʃɯiak) 山戟切 入 廣韻:【求也山戟切又蘇各切六 】
  • 索 sè (OC: sreeɡ MC: ʃɯæk) 山責切 入 廣韻:【同𡩡 】
  • 索 suǒ (OC: sraaɡ MC: ʃɯiak) 山戟切 入 廣韻:【同𡩡 】
  • 索 suǒ (OC: saaɡ MC: sɑk) 蘇各切 入 廣韻:【盡也散也又繩索亦姓出燉煌蘇各切又所㦸切六 】
    • BIND
      • vtoNtie together
      • figurative: moral>SHOULD
          • means to enforce>LAW
          • specifically>SQUEEZE
            • means:(large)>ROPE
              • nrope; cord, line
              • viactSHI: make ropes
              • vtoNtie up with a rope
              • made of metal>CHAIN
                • metonymy> HAIRCUT
                • related action>PULL
                    • REQUEST
                      • vt(oN)ask for the contextually determinate object
                      • vt+V[0]demand to V, request to V
                      • vtoNdemand; seek; apply for/seek (a position)
                      • vttoN1.+prep+N2seek N1 from N2
                      • SEEK
                        • viactorganise a (typically official or large scale) search
                        • vt(oN)seek for the contextually determinate object
                        • vtt(oN1.)+prep+N2seek N1 from N2
                        • vtoNsearch for (an admired object); aim for (a desirable situation); seek out (appropriate candidates for a job); seek and find
                        • vtoNPab{S}pursue the aim that S
                        • EXHAUST
                          • vtoNexhaust (YILI)
                          • vtoNmiddle voiceHF 1.2: (of supplies) be exhausted
                          • of tears: completely>FLOW
                            • grammaticalised>ALL
                              • resultative.TOUCH
                                • abstract, general>CHOOSE
                                  • vtoNselect
                                  • psychological, intellectual>THINK
                                      • systematic>INVESTIGATE
                                        • nabactinquiry
                                        • vtoNinquire into, try to find out about
                                        • grammaticalised: in accordance with investigation,really>REALITY
                                      • choosing one's actions freely>UNRESTRAINED
                                        • wife>MARRY
                                      • conative>PURSUE
                                        • nabactthe pursuing of people with the aim of arresting them
                                        • vtoNseek to arrest, conduct a search for (a person, in order to arrest or consult him/her);

                          Additional information about 索

                          說文解字: 【索】,艸有莖葉,可作繩索。从𣎵、糸。 〔小徐本作「从𣎵、糸聲。」〕 杜林說:𣎵亦朱(𣎳)[巿]字。 〔小徐本「朱𣎳」作「朱巿」。〕 【蘇各切】

                            Criteria
                          • REQUEST

                            1. The current general word for a request is qiú 求 (ant. dé 得 "obtain"), which however can also come to mean demand and is therefore not a particularly polite term to use.

                            2. Qǐng 請 is the polite term for a request addressed to a superior or an equal; and this term is currently used in early texts to refer to a suggestion made in the superficial rhetorical form of a request.

                            3. Suǒ 索 is a strong request for someting one takes to be due to one.

                            4. Yè 謁 refers to (inappropriate) special requests made to acquaintances in high office, and the term can come to have negative overtones when used as a noun.

                          • SEEK

                            1. The current general word for trying to find or get something is qiú 求.

                            2. Suǒ 索 refers to an attempt to get hold of what is hard to find or trying to escape.

                            3. Sōu 搜 refers to the conduct of a searching campaign of some size, typically for a person.

                            4. Gān 干 refers to the abstract pursuit of aims in life.

                            5. Móu 牟 refers to concerted action to insure the supply of necessities or conveniences, both concrete and abstract.

                            6. Zhēng 爭 is to make a strenuous competitive effort to get something.

                            NB: Xún 尋 is apparently post-Buddhist.

                          • PURSUE

                            1. The current general word for pursuing something or going after something in a hostile way, driving what is pursued before one, competing with it for speed, is zhú 逐 and the word can only very occasionally refer to abstract pursuits like that of wisdom, as in the venatio sapientiae of Nicolas Cusanus. It is significant that the word currently means "to expel", where expelling and chasing are not always easy to distinguish.

                            2. Zhuī 追 refers to the attempt of catching up with anything, characteristically a kòu 寇 "enemy" or thief (who may not know he is being pursued) but without any attending notion that what is being caught up with is NECESSARILY trying to escape or to make great speed, and the word is regularly used in figurative derived meanings "to seek", as in zhuī lì 追利 "chasing after profit".

                            3. Suǒ 索 emphasises the seeking aspect in the pursuit of something or someone.

                            4. Jí 及 and the rarer dài 逮 refer to a successful pursuit. See CATCH UP

                            5. Qū 驅 suggests a hot and fast pursuit typically uncrowned by success.

                          • ROPE

                            1. Probably the most general word for the rope is shéng 繩. The term originally referred to the finer rope made of silk or hemp (which was used for instance to make a fishing net), but in Han times it became to be used for all kinds of ropes. Note that ropes in ancient China were like our modern ropes usually twisted of two strips.

                            2. Suǒ 索 refers to the rope larger and more crude than shéng 繩; it was usually made not of silk or hemp, but of grass, wooden, or bamboo strips.

                            3. Jīu 糾 according to SHUOWEN refers to the rope twisted of three strips. In fact, this explanation is doubtful, and it seems that while the word refers to the ropes generally, it particularly points to the fact that they are twisted of strips. The word is usually used like a verb "to twist, to weave together", sometimes in meaning to collect together.

                            4. Táo 綯 is the word for rope which occurs in SHIJING together with suǒ 索.

                            5. Huī 徽 and mò (written like 絲 and 墨 ) both refer to the crude ropes which were usually used for punishments. The former can be also used like a verb "to bind", the latter can also refer to the crude rope used for other purposes, like a reins for instance.

                            6. Léi 縲 refer to the large and crude rope used to bind up criminals.

                            7. Jiān 緘 refers to the rope for tying up basket or a box.

                            8. Téng 滕 refers to the rope used to tie up something.

                            9. Huà 繣 refers to the cord for tying something.

                            10. Guàn 貫 refers to the string to hang cash on, and also to the cash string like a unit; the oldest evidence I have found is in SHIJI.

                            11. Qiǎng 繈 refers to the cash string (mentioned already in GUANZI and SHIJI.

                            12. Zhí 縶 refers in SHIJING and ZUO to the rope used to tie the horse.

                            13. Mí (written like 糜 but with 絲 instead of 米 ) refers to the rope for leading cattle.

                            14. Zhèn 紖 is another term for the rope used to lead cattle.

                            15. Xiè 紲 refers to the rope used to hold a dog.

                            16. Xián 弦 refers either to the string of a bow (usually made of oxen veins), or to the string of a musical instrument:.

                            NB: Finds of ropes are of course extremely rare. Ropes made of grass were found in the Neolithic site of Hemudu (near Shanghai; HUANG 1995: 1420), another other is known from the early Shang site at Mengzhuang in Henan (references and illustrations TO BE FOUND)]

                            Word relations
                          • Assoc: (SEEK)求/SEEK The current general word for trying to find or get something is qiú 求.
                          • Synon: (EXHAUST)盡/EXHAUST The current general word for using up anything material or immaterial is jìn 盡.