Taxonomy of meanings for 聞:
- wèn (OC: mɯns MC: miun) 亡運切 去 廣韻：【名達詩曰令聞令望 】
- wén (OC: mɯn MC: miun) 無分切 平 廣韻：【聞古文 】
- wén (OC: mɯn MC: miun) 無分切 平 廣韻：【説文曰知聲也又音問 】
- perception> HEAR
- nabfeaturethe capacity of hearing > hearing
- vadNobtained through hearing
- vimiddle voicebe heard of 未嘗聞
- vt(oN)hear, come to understand the contextually determinate N
- vtoNhear (sounds); overhear; hear about
- vtoNobject=facthear about a fact 聞其死
- vtoNpassive聞吾耳"come to my ears": be overheard by, get heard; come to one's attention of. also impersonal: 聞於天 "was heard in Heaven"
- vtoNpsychhear (oneself)
- vtoShear that S
- vttoN1.+prep+N2hear about N1 from N2
- vtoNab{S}hear that S
- nwhat one hearsLZ
- vt prep Nhear about N; have heard about NCH
- vto.Npro=Shave heard from good sources that S 吾聞之CH
- vttoN1. prep N2passivebe heard byCH
- vto.npro=Shave heard it said that SCH
- vtoNresultativeget to hear clearlyCH
- vt[oN]hear thingsLZ
- conative:act> LISTEN
- nabtextwhat one has heard (and thus learnt second-hand)
- vt[oN]actlisten to things
- vtoNcausativecause to listen> gain the ear of
- vtoNpassivebe heard; allow oneself to be listened to
- vtoNreflexive.自listen (to oneself)
- vttoN.+V[0]listen to N Ving
- vtoNPab{S}listen to an account of S
- vt prep Nlisten to NCH
- vtoNlisten to (and grasp the meaning of), get the opportunity to listen to; learn aboutCH
- cause to be listened to> TRANSMIT
- nabsocialwhat has been learnt and heard> tradition
- object> TRADITION
- nab.post-Ntraditional doctrine of NCH
- object:what one listens to> REPORT
- vtoNcausativeannounce formally, let (someone) know something
- listen to and participate in government meetings> GOVERN
- vt(oN)take charge of a bureaucratic administration of the contextually determinate NCH
- resultative:and act in accordance with what one has listened to> OBEY
- vtoNlisten to > obey, follow (an advice)
- generalising> RECEIVE
- vtoNperfectivereceive (an order etc.)
- inchoative:first hear about> LEARN
- nabobjectwhat one hears from authority> what one is informed of; what one learns
- vt(oN)hear about or learn about the contextually determinate thing N
- vt[oN]learn about the truth
- vt+prep+Nlearn about
- vt+prep+Npassivebe heard by> come to the attention of
- vtoNinchoativeget to know about; learn about; learn to understand (from an authoritative source); CHECK ATTRIBUTIONS!
- vtoSobject=long textB: learn (the following authoritative passage)
- vtoNN=topiclearn about, be informed about (factive)
- vtoNPab{S}learn that S
- vtoSobject=factlearn that S, hear that S
- vttoN1.+prep+N2learn or get to know (something N1) from (someone N2)吾曾聞大勇於夫子矣
- vt+prep+Shave heard>learnt that SCH
- vtoNperfectivemanage to get to know about; manage to understandCH
- vtoNpro.adShave heard from an authoritative sourceCH
- vto.npro=Shave heard it from authoritative sources 聞之SCH
- vtoNN=person: learn about N, be informed about NCH
- vtonpro=S.+VtoSlearn from an authoritative source the following which runs as followsDS
- vt[oN]perfectivehave heard and learnt things (as in 多聞)LZ
- vtoNinchoativelearn about, get to know about, hear aboutCH
- perfective> KNOW
- nabobjectwhat one has learnt; what one has heard about; information
- vt(oN)be apprised of a contextually determinate thing, come to know about something
- vtoNperfectiveget to know about; be informed of, have come to understand
- vtoNPab{S}changecome to learn that S, have come to understand
- vtoSbe informed that; have come to understand that; come to know that
- vt+prep+Npassiveit will be known by NDS
- be heard about> WELL-KNOWN
- nabsocialbeing famous; reputation
- vibe famous, be much heard of
- vichangebecome well-known; become notorious
- vtoNbe well-known in; be familiar to (one's ears); be notorious (in a place)
- favourably> FAMOUS
- nabsocialfame
- vi[JDSW: Falling tone?] be well-known
- vt Nbe famous in NCH
- vt+prep+Nbe(come) famous among NCH
- abstract result> REPUTATION
- nabsocialreputation
- resultative:in depth> UNDERSTAND
- derived, by analogy> SMELL
- vtoN(resultative) smell
- vttoN1.+N2passivebe smelled on a distance of N2DS
- object> ODOUR
- nabfeatureodour
- perception> HEAR
Additional information about 聞
說文解字: 【聞】，知聞也。 〔小徐本「聞」作「聲」。〕 从耳、門聲。 【無分切】 【䎽(𦖞𦖫)】、古文从昏。 〔小徐本「古文」下有「聞」。〕
- Criteria
- LEARN
1. The learning of propositional knowledge is wén 聞.
2. The learning of practical knowledge is the inchoative néng 能 "come to be able to".
3. Xué 學 is conative and means "try to learn". See STUDY.
4. Jìn 進 is to make progress in the process of learning.
- LISTEN
1. The current word for listening is tīng 聽, the nuance often being listening to and at the same time taking note of as sound advice etc.
2. Líng 聆 adds the nuance of extreme respectful attention to the notion of listening.
NB: The current word for hearing is wén 聞, and the word often involves nuances of learning something from an authoritative source. Seee HEAR.
- REPORT
1. The current word for any report or the passing on of any information is gào 告. But see also ADDRESS.
2. Yù 語 is a common word referring to informal oral notification or instruction.
3. Bào 報 and the rarer fù 復 refer to an oral report to the authorities as required by these authorities.
4. Yè 謁 refers to the transmitting of a message, typically by the ancient Chinese equivalent of a butler.
5. Wén 聞 refers to making something known to a superior or to the public at large.
6. Fěng 諷 refers to an informal (often subtly disguised) personal opinion passed on to superiors.
7. Bái 白 refers to a personal report, often urgent, and typically by an inferior to a superior, and when used among equals it is a polite form of self-deprecation.
- WELL-KNOWN
1. The dominant general term for any kind of reputation, god or bad, is míng 名.
2. Shēng 聲 refers specifically to notoriety in so far as it is the subject of public discussion.
3. The specific general term for a high reputation is yù 譽, often in the combination míng yù 名譽.
4. Wàng 望 is primarily public respect for a prominent political or intellectual leader.
5. Wén 聞 refer to being well-known and/or notorious for anything good or bad.
6. Zhī 知 refers to being well-known and/or notorious for anything good or bad.
- UNDERSTAND
1. The standard current and word for understanding something and knowing how to do something is zhī 知 (ant. mèi 昧 "not have the foggiest idea").
2. Míng 明 (ant. měng 蒙 "have very confused notions about") refers to incisive clarity of insight.
3. Tōng 通 (ant. hūn 昏 "be confused about") refers to comprehensive and thorough familiarity with a subject.
4. Yù 喻 / 諭 (ant. àn 闇 "be in the dark about") typically refers to clarity achieved on the basis of an effort of articulation.
5. Chá 察 and shěn 審 (ant. mí 迷 "be all lost when it comes to") refer to incisive clarity of understanding coupled with great awareness of the details of a matter.
6. Jīng 精 (mào 眊 / 耄 "be completely stupid with respect to") refers to a subtle and thorough understanding of something.
7. Shí 識 refers to familiarity with something concrete, but the word also refers to simple awareness, especially when negated.
8. Biàn 辨 / 辯 (ant. huò 惑 "be al confused about") refers to discriminating and highly articulate specialised, often professional knowledge about something.
9. Jué 覺 and the rarer wù 悟 are inchoative and refer to the coming to understand something.
10. Wēn 溫 refers to the resulting close familiarity after long acquaintance with a subject.
11. Wén 聞 (ant. wèi zhī wén 未之聞 "have never heard/learnt about any such thing") is sometimes used as a resultative verb meaning "come to understand something because one has been informed of it". But this usage is limited to the idiom wén dào 聞道 "hear about the Way".
12. Xī 悉 and jìn 盡 refer to presumed completeness in knowledge.
- SMELL
1. Xiù 臭／嗅 "try to smell" relates to wén 聞 "perceive the smell of" exactly like shì 視 "look at" to jiàn 見 "see".
NB: Compare 嘗 "try to taste". See TASTE.
- KNOW
1. The general word for knowing something to be the case in any way or on any basis is zhī 知, but the word is more common in the meanings discussed under UNDERSTAND as in 知人 "understand men".
2. Wén 聞 is to have learnt as given, so that one knows it as part of one's intellectual tradition or education.
3. Shí 識 is to be able to recognise and thus to have some idea of something through familiarity and experience, and what one is thus familiar with does not seem to be facts.
- FAMOUS
1. The current general term for illustiousness and extraordinary fame is xiǎn 顯 (ant. huì 晦 "obscure").
2. Míng 明 (ant. yōu 幽 "without any special lustre") adds to the notion of illustriousness that of supernatural authority.
3. Lōng 隆 and chóng 崇 (all ant. bēi 卑 "humble") adds to the general notion illustriousness overtones of elevated removedness from the world of the ordinary.
4. Liè 烈 and hè 赫 focus on the image of glamour radiating from those who are illustrious.
5. Wàng 望 (ant. wēi 微 "of slight fame" and hán 寒 "of no formal distinction") focusses especially on the aspect of illustriousness that consists in profound public admiration.
6. Wén 聞 is occasionally used to refer to a state of being much heard-of and well-known.
7. Róng 榮 refers to resplendent glory on a large scale.
- ARMY
[ARCHAIC/CURRENT]
[GENERAL/SPECIFIC]
[IMPERSONAL/PERSONIFIED]
[MOBILE/STATIONARY]
[LARGE/SMALL]
1. Bīng 兵 "armed force" focusses on the weapons ready for use and may refer to any military grouping.
[GENERAL]
2. Jūn 軍 is a complete army as a unit, from Spring and Autumn times onwards, normally attached to an army camp. Complete parts of an army are always jūn 軍, rarely shī 師. Hence the expressions sān jūn 三軍, zhōng jūn 中軍, shàng jūn 上軍, xià jūn 下軍. An army is counted by the number of jūn 軍 in it, where each jūn 軍 is said to be 10 000 men, at least in the Qi system. Systems have varied in different states. For detals of the early history see the monograph by KOLB.
[IMPERSONAL], [LARGE], [OFFICIAL]
3. Shī 師 refers generally to troops a military force on a campaign, not necessarily a complete army. ZUO Ding 4.1.6 commentators quantify an armed force as consisting of 2500 men, in one exceptional context. One often speaks of 三軍之師, never of 三師之軍. One asks for troops 請／乞師, and not for jūn 軍 which would be asking for the whole army of a friendly state. The troops of another state one uses are always shī 師 (e.g. 衛人以燕師伐鄭 ), one's own troops can be described as jūn 軍 or shī 師 almost indifferently. One offers food to the enemy shī 師, not to their jūn 軍. (HF 23.27:01) There are ruì shī 銳師 "crack troops" but no ruì jūn 銳軍 "crack army". Similarly, 楚師之良. The shī 師 may be said to hear about something 師聞之, not the jūn 軍.
[GENERAL], [MOBILE], [PERSONIFIED!]
4. Lu# 旅 is an archaic word for armed forces in any combatant or non-combatant function, and in ZUO Ding 4.1.6 it is quantified to consist of 500 men, and.
[ARCHAIC], [SMALL]
5. Duì 隊 is common in Han texts for a division in the army, the size of this division could vary, but did not exceed the hundreds. SEE ALSO BATALLION
[SMALL]
- HEAR
1. The standard word for hearing or overhearing anything is wén 聞.
- Word relations
- Object: (SMELL)臭/ODOUR
The general word for an odour, either pleasant or unpleasant, is xiù 臭. - Contrast: (KNOW)見/SEE
The clearly dominant word is jiàn 見 (ant. méng 矇 "unable to see") which refers to any act of successful visual perception. - Contrast: (HEAR)聽/LISTEN
The current word for listening is tīng 聽, the nuance often being listening to and at the same time taking note of as sound advice etc. - Assoc: (KNOW)識/KNOW
Shí 識 is to be able to recognise and thus to have some idea of something through familiarity and experience, and what one is thus familiar with does not seem to be facts. - Assoc: (WELL-KNOWN)聲/WELL-KNOWN
Shēng 聲 refers specifically to notoriety in so far as it is the subject of public discussion. - Relat: (LEARN)行/ACT
The current general word for any deliberate action one may be held morally and/or administratively responsible for is xíng 行 (ant. zhǐ 止 "decide not to take action"). The nominal entries have the old reading xìng. [COMMENDATORY!], [GENERAL], [HABITUAL], [RESPONSIBLE]