Taxonomy of meanings for 蒸:　　

  • 蒸 zhēng (OC: kjɯŋ MC: tɕɨŋ) 煑仍切 平 廣韻：【説文同蒸 】
  • 蒸 zhēng (OC: kjɯŋ MC: tɕɨŋ) 煑仍切 平 廣韻：【衆也進也君也又麁曰薪細曰蒸説文曰析麻中幹也又爾雅曰冬祭曰蒸經典亦作烝煑仍切七 】

Additional information about 蒸

說文解字: 【蒸】，折麻中榦也。从艸、烝聲。 【煑仍切】 【䒱】，蒸或省火。

    Criteria
  • 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.