Taxonomy of meanings for 訪:　　

  • 訪 fǎng (OC: phaŋs MC: pʰʷiɐŋ) 敷亮切 去 廣韻：【謀也敷亮切三 】
    • ASK
      • vt[oN]solicit opinions (among one or more people not specified)
      • vt+prep+Nsolicit information from
      • vtoNsolicit information politely from; ask (someone)for advice
      • vttoN1.+prep+N2solicit opinions (about something N1) from (someone N2)　穆公訪諸蹇叔
    • VISIT
      • vt(oN)omvisit (a contextually determinate N)
      • vt+prep+Npaid a visit to
      • vtoNpost-Han SHISHUOXINYU: pay a formal visit
    • INVESTIGATE
      • SEEK
        • vtoNseek out NVK
      • PLAN
        • BEGIN
          • SURNAMES

            Additional information about 訪

            說文解字: 【訪】，汎謀曰訪。从言、方聲。 【𢾭亮切】

              Criteria
            • ASK

              [ASCENDING/DESCENDING]

              [[COMMON/RARE]]

              [GENERAL/SPECIFIC]

              [INFORMAL/OFFICIAL]

              1. The general word is wèn 問 "open a dialogue by consulting someone with a question" (ant. duì 對 "reply to a superior") which typically refers to the consultation of a person who is supposed to know something. When the adressee is explicit, the questioner is typically of higher status than the addressee, and the reply is correspondingly often phrased politely as duì yuē 對曰. When there is no explicit addressee (X asked about Y), the addressee often is of higher status (e.g. a teacher).

              [SPECIFIC]; [[COMMOM+]]

              2. Qǐng 請 is occasionally used to refer to polite requests for information.

              [[RARE]]

              3. Nàn 難 is to ask intellectually hostile questions regarding something which the person questioned has said or maintains as true, to make objections. See DISAGREE and REFUTE which are difficult to distinguish from each other and from this.

              [SPECIFIC], [HORIZONTAL]

              4. Fǎng 訪 typically refers to questioning addressed to superiors.

              [ASCENDING]

              5. Xún 詢 typically refers to rather formal questions addressed to inferiors.

              [DESCENDING], [OFFICIAL]

              6. Zī 諮／咨 refers to questions addressed to a specialist.

              [SPECIFIC]

              7. Zōu 諏 all refer to some kind of official soliciting of formal opinions.

              [OFFICIAL]; [[RARE]]

              8. Yuē 曰 is regularly used to introduce related questions as reactions within an ongoing dialogue.

              <div>9. Wèi 謂 may introduce what are in fact questions rather than statements.</div><div><br></div><div>10. Wèn yuē 問曰 introduces a a question that opens a new dialogue or a discrete new phase in a dialogue.</div><div><br></div><div>NB: ASKing in Chinese us always dialogic: one cannot ask oneself any question 問己, and one cannot abstractly just raise an abstract question as an intellectual issue worthy of discussion. There seems to be no word in classical Chinese for "asking a question" without addressing this question to an audience.<br></div><br>