Taxonomy of meanings for 親:　　

Additional information about 親

說文解字:

Criteria
• CHINA
  

  睡虎地秦墓竹簡 1978: 226 臣邦人不安秦主而欲去夏者, 勿許. 何謂夏 ? 欲去親屬是謂夏.

  The words for China have this in common that they do NOT designate any one state. 中國 "the central states" is implicitly plural when it does not refer to the capital city. 諸夏 the various Xià (states)" is explicitly plural. The standard Imperium Romanum has no counterpart in Chinese until very late, unless one admits 天下 "all under Heaven" as a designation for the empire. But 天下 does not define any bounded empire. It remains to be seen exactly when a standard term for China was took shape. Compare the problems of finding a term for the Chinese language.

  Based on 顧頡剛 & 王樹民, “ 夏 ” 和 “ 中國 ”— 祖國古代的稱號, Zhongguo lishi dili luncong, Vol. 1 (Xi'an, 1981), 6-22).

  In the Shu and Shi sections relating to the early Zhou, 區夏 (= 夏區 ), 有夏 and 時夏 (= 是夏 ) refers to the place in which the Zhou established their capital after their conquest of Shang, in contradistinction to Zhou 掇 homeland in the West ( 西土 ) and the close Zhou allies ( 一二邦 ). The Zhou referred to their own domain as 烠 he central city-state � ( 中國 ). Since 中國 in this usage refers to the territory directly governed by the Zhou, it is singular and used in exchange with 京師 and in contradistinction with 四方 and 四國. Other states also referred to their capital regions as 啎什縕 (thus Wu in GY 19.09.01/618); a (perhaps late) variant of this word is 啎尹塹 (Yugong).

  After becoming strong, the states enfeoffed by Zhou asserted the community with the 周 by commencing to refer to themselves as 堔 L �, leading to the plural designation 埣悎 L �, used in contrast with designations like 啈 i 狄�. The distinction between the two groups was viewed as cultural, and its precise reference shifted over time, originally excluding states (like 楚 ) from the community of 諸夏 but later including them, or including them in the beginning, whilst later excluding them (like 秦 ). Some of the non- 諸夏 states were viewed as subservient to 諸夏 states, others as their enemies. The membership of 楚 to the 諸夏 circle was always insecure; it was, so to speak, was"always on probation.

  The 東夏 made up a subdivision of the 諸夏, including states such a 齊 and 魯.

  In parallel with the 堔 L � appellations arose the 埽寊 appellations, 埽寊 on its own and 埣捄寊, and, the two words may well be cognate, the common 埽堮 L �.

  In the Warring States period the cultural distinction gave way to a geographical distinction, and the 中國 states were now the state occupying the Central Plain

• DISTANT
  

  1. The clearly dominant term for distance in general is yuǎn 遠 (ant. jìn 近 "close").

  2. Shū 疏 (ant. qīn 親 "close") often refers to distance of relation in a more than purely physical sense.

  3. Yōu 悠 and jiǒng 迥 is a poetic word describing as distant something which one wishes was near.

  4. Liáo 遼 is a poetic referring to what is distant and remote in space and therefore an obscure place. Note liáo yuǎn 遼遠.

  5. Miǎo 邈 is a rare poetic word, and from the few usages we have it seems more frequently to refer to distance in time.

  6. Yáo 遙 is an elusive poetic word referring to a mystical distance, typically the distance into which one roams freely xiāo yáo 逍遙.

  7. Qù 去 can refer to concrete or abstract distance, and in the abstract case the distance is close in meaning to difference.

  8. Lí 離 in this sense is a purely geometrical terms that can sometimes refer to the distance of some object from another.

  9. Jué 絕 "cut-off, distant" is a fairly elevated way of referring to the remoteness of a region.

  10. Xiá 遐 (ant. ěr 邇 "close"), a distinctly rare and archaic word, describes something as not only distant, but also ethereal, remote and difficult of access.

• PARENT
  

  1. The current word for parents is qīn 親, and the word is always used to refer to both parents (a rare case of dualis), so that the father or mother separately are not referred to as a qīn 親.

• APPROACH
  

  [DRAMATIC]/[UNDRAMATIC]

  [ELEVATED/VULGAR]

  [GENERAL/SPECIFIC]

  [HIGH-DEGREE/LOW-DEGREE]

  [LITERAL/TRANSFERRED]

  1. The most current general word for approaching or getting close to anything is jìn 近 (ant. yuàn 遠 "remove oneself far from").

  [GENERAL], [LITERAL!]

  2. Jí 即 and jiù 就 (all ant. lí 離 "leave, move away from") refer neutrally to moving close to a certain place.

  [GENERAL]

  3. Bó 薄 and pò 迫 refers somewhat dramatically to moving (often precariously) close to something.

  [DRAMATIC], [LITERAL]

  4. Fù 附 is to move very close up indeed to something, often getting attached to it.

  [HIGH-DEGREE], [LITERAL]

  5. Qīn 親 (NB: shū 疏 is not used as an antonym for this meaning.) refers primarily to moving intimately close to something.

  [ELEVATED], [TRANSFERRED!]

  6. Lín 臨 is often used in ways characteristic of the dignified court style, but the word also commonly refers to getting close to a place or time in a natural course of events.

  [ELEVATED!], [GENERAL]

• ENEMY
  

  1. The general word for an enemy or opponent of any kind is dí 敵 (ant. yǒu 友 "friend") which can also often refer to mere competitors or adversaries.

  2. Kòu 寇 is an enemy of the state, often a foreigner.

  3. Chóu 讎 (ant. yǒu 友 "friend") emphasises the intense emotional nature of the conflict between the enemies concerned.

  4. Qiú 仇 "fiend" (ant. qīn 親 "someone close to one") refers to a mortal enemy with whom one has a serious feud.

  5. Lǔ 虜 is originally a foreign enemy who deserves to be taken prisoner, but the term comes to be used quite generally for an enemy of the state in Han times.

  6. Zéi 賊 emphasises the moral turpitude and decrepitude or the villainy of the enemy.

• PERSONALLY
  

  1. The current word for doing something personally is zì 自 (ant.* rén 人 "others").

  2. Qīn 親 (ant.* jiè 藉 and píng 憑 "via others") emphasises that a person who might have chosen not to condescend to do something personally actually decided to do it, and the word naturally tends to be limited to subjects of a fairly high social status.

  3. Gōng 躬 refers to doing something oneself demonstratively, and the word emphasises the moral responsibility of the agent for what he or she does rather than (like jǐ 己 "he himself, rather than someone else") laying any contrastive stress on the fact that the agent and not someone else engages in the action concerned.

  4. Qiè 竊 is very often used in polite formal discourse to indicate subjectiveness of attitudes that are being submitted to a superior. Thus this word is highly limited in application and somewhat marginal in the group.

  5. Shēn 身 "in person" hovers between an adverbial and a nominal function and is sometimes hard to distinguish from the meaning "himself" classified under SELF, which is common in contrastive in parallelistic constructions.

• INTIMATE
  

  1. The general word for close familiarity is qīn 親 (ant. shū 疏 "have only distant relations with"), but the word often retains connotations of kinship relations.

  2. Xiá 狎 can refer both to positive initimacy between friends, and more currently to inappropriate and excessive intimate behaviour with those with whom one is not entitled to be intimate.

  3. Niǔ 狃 and xiè 褻 (ant. jìng 敬 "show proper respect to"(!)) refers to excessive and reprehensible and often even indecent overfamiliarity.

  4. Mì 密 (ant. shū 疏 "have only distant relations with") refers to close political or ideological relations.

  5. Nì 暱 refers to close emotional or personal links.

  6. Xìng 倖 refers specifically to closeness to superiors which is based on favour on the part of the latter.

• RELATIVES
  

  1. The current general words for relatives are qīn 親 "consanguine relative", and qī 戚 "non-consaguine relative".

  2. Juàn 眷 is not very current in pre-Buddhist times, but does refer quite generally to consanguine as well as non-consanguine relatives.

  3. Qī 戚 refers to relatives including and sometimes focussing on the non-consanguine relations.

  4. Qīn qī 親戚 refers to members of one family having a consanguinal relationship. Before the >Qín 秦 dynasty, these could be also called zhì qīn 至親.

  5. Gǔ roù 骨肉 is used as a metaphor refering to a consanginual kinship.

  6. Jiā rén 家人 refers to the family living together.

  7. Qīn shǔ 親屬 refers in a rather objective or even administrative way to the members of a clan.

Word relations
• Ant: (INTIMATE)棄/DISCARD The standard general words for discarding something is qì 棄 (ant. qǔ 取 "choose to retain") and the somewhat rarer juān 捐. 1 Attribution
• Ant: (INTIMATE)疏/DISTANT Shū 疏 (ant. qīn 親 "close") often refers to distance of relation in a more than purely physical sense. 5 Attributions
• Ant: (INTIMATE)仇 / 讎/ENEMY Qiú 仇 "fiend" (ant. qīn 親 "someone close to one") refers to a mortal enemy with whom one has a serious feud.
• Ant: (INTIMATE)遠/DISTANT The clearly dominant term for distance in general is yuǎn 遠 (ant. jìn 近 "close"). 2 Attributions
• Ant: (INTIMATE)/
• Object: (PARENT)養/REAR Yǎng 養 refers primarily to the caring for and nourishing of one's parents, children or other humans one feels caring sympathy for and is only occasionally used for non-humans, although it does apply to plants like mulberry trees that need much care.
• Epithet: (INTIMATE)愛/LOVE The clearly dominant word referring to love is ài 愛 (ant. hèn 恨 "dislike"; rarely zēng 憎 "dislike"; and wù 惡 "hate"), and this word refers both to the feelings of love and to the expression of love in loving care for another person as well as in sexual relations. (Occasionally, the word may refer to the emotional preference that a small child feels for its parents. For this meaning see PREFER.)
• Contrast: (PERSONALLY)身/SELF Shēn 身 typically refers to the subject in a contrastive way, and the word is often hard to distinguish from the nominal concept of a person. Adverbially, the word is different from PERSONALLY in that it does not connote distinction in the agent. 1 Attribution
• Contrast: (INTIMATE)附/INTIMATE
• Assoc: (INTIMATE)愛/LOVE The clearly dominant word referring to love is ài 愛 (ant. hèn 恨 "dislike"; rarely zēng 憎 "dislike"; and wù 惡 "hate"), and this word refers both to the feelings of love and to the expression of love in loving care for another person as well as in sexual relations. (Occasionally, the word may refer to the emotional preference that a small child feels for its parents. For this meaning see PREFER.)
• Assoc: (INTIMATE)愛/LOVE The clearly dominant word referring to love is ài 愛 (ant. hèn 恨 "dislike"; rarely zēng 憎 "dislike"; and wù 惡 "hate"), and this word refers both to the feelings of love and to the expression of love in loving care for another person as well as in sexual relations. (Occasionally, the word may refer to the emotional preference that a small child feels for its parents. For this meaning see PREFER.)
• Assoc: (INTIMATE)附/INTIMATE1 Attribution
• Assoc: (RELATIVES)戚/RELATIVES Qī 戚 refers to relatives including and sometimes focussing on the non-consanguine relations. 1 Attribution
• Assoc: (INTIMATE)近/INTIMATE1 Attribution
• Synon: (PERSONALLY)自/PERSONALLY The current word for doing something personally is zì 自 (ant.* rén 人"others").
• Synon: (INTIMATE)幸/FAVOURITE The current general word for enjoying favourite status is xìng 幸 (ant.* qì 棄 "be rejected as favourite; rejected"); and the standard general word for showing favour to a favourite is chǒng 寵. 1 Attribution
• Synon: (PERSONALLY)躬/PERSONALLY Gōng 躬 refers to doing something oneself demonstratively, and the word emphasises the moral responsibility of the agent for what he or she does rather than (like jǐ 己 "he himself, rather than someone else") laying any contrastive stress on the fact that the agent and not someone else engages in the action concerned. 1 Attribution
• Synon: (INTIMATE)附/INTIMATE1 Attribution