Taxonomy of meanings for 背:　　

Additional information about 背

說文解字: 【背】，脊也。从肉、北聲。 【補妹切】

Criteria
• SPINE
  

  1. The general term for the back of a person or an animal is bèi 背.

  2. Jǐ 脊 and the much rarer lu# 膂 / 呂 refer specifically to the spine of vertebrates.

• REVOLT
  

  1. The current general word for staging a revolt against authorities is pàn 叛 (ant. shùn 順 "remain loyal").

  2. Luàn 亂 (ant. zhì 治 "regularly political government") refers to a major political upheaval designed to topple the reigning government.

  3. Biàn 變 (ant. cóng 從 "remain politically obedient") refers rather abstractly and neutrally to large scale or comprehensive political unrest of an unspecified character without the negative evaluation of such action which is inherent in luàn 亂.

  4. Fǎn 反 (ant. zhōng 忠 "show proper loyalty") refers to a political revolt on a lesser scale than luàn 亂, and this word always has negative overtones.

  5. Bèi 背 and bèi 倍 (ant. shùn 順 "remain loyal") refer to a defiant act of disobedience and turning against one's superiors without a necessary intention to topple these authorities.

  6. Nàn 難 (ant. xiào 效 "loyal positive effort") refers rather abstractly to political unrest of an unspecified character and focusses on this as being a threat to the ruler's authority and position.

  7. Nì 逆 (ant. shùn 順 "remain loyal") refers to political disobedience and revolt in a disapproving way.

• WELCOME
  

  1. The current general word for welcoming someone is yíng 迎 (ant. bèi 背 "turn one's back on" and zhú 逐 "drive away").

  2. Nì 逆 is a dialect variant for yíng 迎 and is typically used for welcoming brides into a family, but in later times the word came to be used predominantly in the meaning "to oppose".

  3. Yà 迓 refers to a special effort to go to meet someone in oder to entice him to come.

• FOLLOW
  

  1. The dominant current word for moving along behind someone or something else, both in concrete and in abstract senses, is cóng 從 (ant. bèi 背 "be in opposition against").

  2. Suí 隨 is to move along literally behind someone, by a deliberate act of volition.

  3. Zūn 遵 refers primarily to the kind of deliberate following of a path, behaviour that is motivated by respect for what one follows, but sometimes the word is also used in a more generalised way referring to a person following a certain physical guideline without any suggestion of respect for this guideline, as in MENG 遵海而南 "head south along the shore of the sea".

  4. Xún 循 is to follow certain guidelines or a certain prescribed path, as a matter of prudential strategy, and typically in a rather mechanical or habitual manner.

  5. Yǎn 沿 is to follow a physical guideline (like a river bank) in a mechanical way.

  6. Hòu 後 and zhǒng 踵 is to follow literally in the footsteps of someone.

  7. Tīng 聽 refers to the abstract notion of following advice given to one as a superior. See OBEY

  8. Yì 役 and xùn 徇 are fairly rare when used as words referring to the deliberate act of becoming someone's follower or employee.

  9. Xí 襲 refers to a mechanical course of action in conformity with some pattern.

  10. Zé 則 refers to the following of a certain abstract principle or model person to which due attention is paid. See CONFORM

• RALLY
  

  1.The general word for rallying around someone or turning to some place is guī 歸 (ant. lí 離 "distance oneself from") and refers to any group of persons feeling loyal towards and showing allegiance to someone through their action.

  2. Xiàng 向 (ant. bèi 背 "turn one's back on") is allegiance in attitude which may or may not manifest itself in concrete action.

  3. Bì 比 and liú 留 are relatively rare words which refer to closing ranks behind someone and showing political support for him.

• CHOOSE
  

  1. The general word for making a deliberate and in principle free choice is qǔ 取 "to choose or opt for (the preferred alternative), to prefer" (ant 捨 "reject"), and what is thus chosen or preferred may be concrete or abstract.

  2. Zé 擇 is "to choose between, make a free choice among (alternative objects presenting themselves)" and the word applies to all sorts of choices, formal or informal.

  3. Xuǎn 選 and the rarer bá 拔 (ant. chì 斥 "set aside") is an administrative term referring to the choice of incumbents for a position to be filled according to given criteria of choice.

  4. Cǎi 采 is close in meaning to qǔ 取 but does not naturally correspond to any antonym like shě 捨 "reject".

  5. Qū 趨 (ant. bì 避 "shy away from and avoid") and the rarer xiàng 嚮 (ant. bèi 背 "turn one's back on") refer to a tendency to exercise a certain preference.

  6. Níng 寧 "would rather, prefer to" expresses a free moral or intellectual or practical choice. See PREFER

Word relations
• Ant: (SPINE)鄉/DIRECTION Xiāng 鄉 refers to a direction as seen from a subject.
• Object: (OFFEND)法/LAW The current general word for a law, a legal system or any legal provision of any kind is fǎ 法. 3 Attributions
• Object: (OFFEND)天意/PLAN1 Attribution
• Assoc: (REVOLT)叛/REVOLT The current general word for staging a revolt against authorities is pàn 叛 (ant. shùn 順 "remain loyal"). 2 Attributions