Taxonomy of meanings for 萌:　　

  • 萌 méng (OC: mreeŋ MC: mɯæŋ) 莫耕切 平 廣韻：【萌牙 】
    • ARISE
      • nabmetaphysicalsubtle beginnings, incipient signs of things to come
      • vichange未萌"has not even begun to arise": come into subtle early existence; begin to arise, come into existence 
      • vtoNarise from ZZ 所萌
    • PEOPLE
      • npluralimmigrant people, non-native Han people; common people. Can be used synonymously with 民, to denote the mass of ignorant agricultural labourers, and, in a wider use, the governed generally. There is no evidence of use to denote masses of people uprooted from their home because of natural disaster or war, 氓 were in other words not "流氓." [JP]
    • SPROUT
      • nnew twigs with sprouts
      • nfigurativeabstract: sign
      • vichangeto sprout
      • vifigurativecome into existence
      • vibe teeming with great potential of growthCH
    • WEED
      • SURNAMES

        Additional information about 萌

        說文解字:

          Criteria
        • SPROUT

          1. The most common general word for the young sprouts of a tree is méng 萌, and this word is also current in verbal as well as transferred senses.

          2. Yá 芽 refers to sprouts, typically of smaller plants like flowers or shrubs.

          3. Niè 櫱／蘗／孽 refers to new twigs, especially those emerging from a tree that has been cut down, and the word comes to take on negative transferred senses like "illegitimate offspring".

        • ARISE

          [GENERAL/SPECIFIC]

          [HIGH-DEGREE/LOW-DEGREE]

          [INCHOACTIVE/PERFECTIVE]

          1. The most current general word for something arising is probably qǐ 起 (ant. zhǐ 止 "cease to exist").

          [GENERAL]

          2. Méng 萌 is inchoative and refers to the initial stage of arising.

          [INCHOATIVE]

          3. Shēng 生 (ant. miè 滅 "be extinguished (as dinosaurs)") refers to the coming into existence of something which did not previously exist.

          [PERFECTIVE]

          4. Xīng 興 (ant. xí 息 "cease to be virulent") and fā 發 refer to something moving from an "incubatory" state to a state of manifest "virulence" and full development.

          [HIGH-DEGREE], [PERFECTIVE]

          5. Chū 出 (NB: rù 入 cannot be used as an antonym for this meaning.) refers to something that pre-exists emerging or moving from an initial state of hiddenness or non-obviousness to a state of manifest visibility (in analogy with the basic meaning of the word "to come out").

          [SPECIFIC]

          6. Zuò 作 (ant.* xiē 歇 "cease to exist, cease to be active, cease to happen") typically refers to something happening or arising for the first time, but the word can also refer to the emergence of persons like sages.

          [ORIGINAL], [SPECIFIC]

          NB: This group needs to be viewed together with BEGIN, and the line between the two is by no means always clear.

        • PEOPLE

          1. The dominant current general word for the people is mín 民 (ant. jūn 君 "ruler"), and this term refers inclusively to all the people particularly insofar as they are ruled by a ruler or belong to a state (xiǎo mín 小民 are the ordinary people). [ 夫民之為言也暝也，萌之為言也（肓）〔盲〕也，故惟上之所扶而以之，民無不化也。故曰：「民萌。」民萌哉！ ( 直言其意而為之名也 ) Xinshu 9

          2. Bǎi xìng 百姓 (ant. jūn zhǔ 君主 "ruler") typically refers to the registered senior families in a state who are under the control of the ruler and contribute taxes as well as military service to him; but from earliest times this term was occasionally used to refer generally to the populace at large.

          3. Rén 人 (ant. wáng 王 "king") is sometimes used generically for those people who were taken to have a political voice, as in Yīn rén 殷人 "the people of Yīn".

          4. Méng 氓 / 萌 (ant.* shì mín 士民 "citizens") refers specifically to the common people belonging to the lower echelons of society.

          5. Zhòng 眾, shù 庶 and the rarer and more rarified words 蒸 and lí 黎 refer to the masses of the people under the aspect of their numerousness.

          6. Qián shǒu 黔首 "black-headed people" is the current word for the people especially promoted by the Qin dynasty.

          7. Shì mín 士民 refers to senior registered citizens with a certain political influence; but the term can also be used collectively to refer to the freemen/gentleman shì 士 on the one hand, and the common people mín 民 on the other.

          8. Guó rén 國人 refers not to the people in a state, but specifically to the senior citizens in the capital.

          9. Mín rén 民人 is a very current way of referring to the people without suggesting any low or high status.

          10. Shù rén 庶人 is the technical term for the non-office-holding commoners in a country.

        • DREAM

          1. The current standard word for a dream is mèng 夢.

          2. Xiōng mèng 凶夢 refers to a nightmare.

          ZHOULI 3 占夢：掌其歲時，觀天地之會，辨陰陽之氣。以日月星辰占六夢之吉凶，一曰正夢，二曰噩夢，三曰思夢，四曰寤夢，五曰喜夢，六曰懼夢。季冬，聘王夢，獻吉夢于王，王拜而受之。乃舍萌于四方，以贈惡夢，遂令始難驅疫。

          Word relations
        • Epithet: (PEOPLE)貧/POOR The current general word for poverty is pín 貧 (ant. fù 富 "rich"), but the term does not in general refer to transitory poverty.
        • Assoc: (SPROUT)芽/SPROUT Yá 芽 refers to sprouts, typically of smaller plants like flowers or shrubs.