Taxonomy of meanings for 繼:　　

Additional information about 繼

說文解字: 【繼】，續也。从糸、从㡭 〔小徐本「㡭」上無「从」。〕 一曰：反𢇍爲繼。 【古詣切】

Criteria
• STOP
  

  1. The standard current word for ceasing in an activity is zhǐ 止 (ant. xíng 行 "carry on with"), and this word can to any concrete or abstract activity; the ceasing may be final or temporary.

  2. Definitive discontinuation, often of inanimate processes, is yǐ 已 (ant. zuò 作 "break into action"). See FINISH.

  3. Bà 罷 is to deliberately discontinue a course of action one is embarked on, particularly a military action.

  4. Ceasing in a human activity, for a while, is xí 息 and the somewhat rarer xiū 休 (all ant. zuò 作 "break into action").

  5. Jué 絕 (ant. jì 繼 "continue") is to disrupt one's current (human) activity, and fèi 廢 (ant. qín 勤 "continue to make a serioues effort") is to discontinue such an acitivity permanently.

  6. Shě 舍 (often negated) is to relent in a certain activity.

  7. Chuò 輟 (ant.* láo 勞 "put in a continued honest effort") is temporary discontinuation of human action.

  8. Zhì 滯 can be used to refer to the involuntary discontinuation in an activity.

  9. Xiē1 歇 refers to the discontinuation of a process (like that of worrying).

• BEGIN
  

  [ARCHAIC/CURRENT]

  [[COMMON/RARE]]

  [ELEVATED/VULGAR]

  [FORMAL/INFORMAL]

  1. Shǐ 始 (ant. zhōng 終 "bring to an end; come to an end" and chéng 成 "bring to a successful end, complete") refers quite generally to the initiating of any action. But see also ARISE

  [GENERAL]

  2. Zào 造 (all ant. jì 繼 "continue" and chéng 承 "continue") can come to refer to the beginning of an action.

  [ARCHAIC]; [[RARE]]

  3. Chū 初 (ant. mò 末 "end") is purely chronological and refers to the early stage of something that persists, without indicating any lasting influence of that early stage on later developments. See FIRST

  4. Qǐ 起 is sometimes used in a rather formal way for getting underway with a major activity.

  [FORMAL]

  5. Qǐ 啟 typically refers to a deliberate act of initiation, by Heaven as well as by man, and the word generally belongs to the dignified style of historians or rhetoricians.

  [ELEVATED], [FORMAL]

  6. Zhāo 肇 is an elevated and archaic word referring to the initiation of rituals and the like.

  [ELEVATED]; [[RARE]]

• MUTUAL
  

  1. The current general word for mutuality between any number of agents is jiāo 交 which can refer to multiple mutual relations entertained or joined into by any given agent.

  2. Xiāng 相 refers to mutuality but not necessarily reciprocity between two agents and the mutuality does not have to be contemporaneous (NB: the word even more often acts as an object pronouns). Thus X may do something to Y, and Y to Z, and this constellation would allow for the use of xiāng 相, as in the phrase xiāng jì 相繼 or xiāng suí 相隨 "1. follow one another; (but note also the here irrelevant 2. followed him/her/them)". Moreover, xiāng zhù 相助 does not imply synchronised or contemporaneous help: X may help Y at one time, and Y may help X at another time, and this collaboration will qualify for xiāng zhù 相助.

  3. Hù 互 refers specifically to reciprocity of interaction between two agents, and the reciprocity of interaction must occur at the same time.

• CREATE
  

  1. The most general word is probably wéi 為 and this is sometimes used to refer to the act of cultural invention or creation, and the connotation may be positive or negative. The word focusses on the act of making something as such rather than the product as such.

  2. Zuò 作 (ant. shù 述 "transmit") focusses on an autonomous initiative being taken, and the word can refer to a commendable act of creation as well as a reprehensible act of political disobedience. The word focusses on the product resulting of the action.

  3. Zào 造 is prototypically to fashion in the manner of a potter or founder, but the word often has a nuance of the arbitrary and comes to mean something like "fabricate". See also PRODUCE

  4. Chuàng 創 (ant. jì 繼 "continue a line") is a rare word referring to the initiative to start something.

  5. Zào huà 造化 refers to both the process of creation, and of spontaneous cosmic transformation.

• CONTINUE
  

  1. The most current general word for continuing to do something and also for continuing a tradition is jì 繼 (ant. jué 絕 "disrupt a tradition") which concentrates on the original thing that is being continued or made longer.

  2. Xù 續 (ant. duàn 斷 "interrupt a tradition") focusses on what is being added in the lengthening process, and the dominant meaning of the word is spatial lengthening.

  3. Zhuǎn 轉 is refers to continuation by alternation of the agent and is translatable as "continuing in turn".

  4. Chéng 承 refers to the continuation of an abstract tradition.

  5. Yè 業 refers primarily to the continuation of the trade or tradition of one's own forebears.

  6. Réng 仍 focusses on the uninterrupted and continuous pursuance of an activity over a continuing period.

  7. Sì 嗣, which came to mean "succeed as an heir", was used in early texts to refer to the continuation of any tradition or practice.

  8. Yán 延 is current in the meaning "continue" in OBI.

Word relations
• Ant: (CONTINUE)絕/BREAK OFF Jué 絕 refers - often metaphorically - to causing something to become discontinuous, to be interrupted or broken off.
• Ant: (CONTINUE)絕/STOP Jué 絕 (ant. jì 繼 "continue") is to disrupt one's current (human) activity, and fèi 廢 (ant. qín 勤 "continue to make a serioues effort") is to discontinue such an acitivity permanently. 1 Attribution
• Object: (CONTINUE)業/WORK Yè 業refers to the pursuance of one's own professional career or one's career as a skilled artisan, farmer etc.. 1 Attribution
• Synon: (CONTINUE)承/CONTINUE Chéng 承 refers to the continuation of an abstract tradition.