Taxonomy of meanings for 諮 / 咨:　　

  • 諮 zī (OC: sti MC: tsi) 即夷切 平 廣韻：【諮謀 】
    • ASK
      • vtoNconsult; seek the opinion of (typically an important personality), engage in strategic deliberations together with to solicit advice to be used in strategic deliberation � the person one asks in this way does not participate in the deliberations proper but is of high status
      • nabactasking questions (of a specialist)
      • vtpostN{OBJ}ask the advice of, consult N
      • vt+prep+Nconsult N
      • vtoNN=topicask about
    • LETTER
      • npost-Han, SANGUO: bureaucratic correspondence on civil matter
    • REQUEST
      • vt+V[0]ask to V
  • 咨 zī (OC: sti MC: tsi) 即夷切 平 廣韻：【嗟也謀也即夷切十五 】
    • ASK
      • vtoNconsult; seek the opinion of (typically an important personality), engage in strategic deliberations together with to solicit advice to be used in strategic deliberation � the person one asks in this way does not participate in the deliberations proper but is of high status
      • nabactasking questions (of a specialist)
      • vtpostN{OBJ}ask the advice of, consult N
      • vt+prep+Nconsult N
      • vtoNN=topicask about
    • SIGH

      Additional information about 諮

      說文解字:

        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>

      • LETTER

        1. The general term for a letter is shū 書.

        2. Dú 牘 refers to a letter, primarily one written on a wooden tablet, but came to be used to refer to letters in general.

        3. Qǐ 啟, zhuàng 狀, zī 諮, zhá 札, yí 移, guān 關 all refer to bureaucratic correspondence concerning civil affairs.

        8. Xí 檄 and lù bù 露布 refer to bureacratic correspondence concerning military matter.