Taxonomy of meanings for 賤:　　

Additional information about 賤

說文解字: 【賤】，賈少也。从貝、戔聲。 【才線切】

Criteria
• CHEAP
  

  1. The dominant word is jiàn 賤 (ant. guì 貴 "expensive"), which describes something as low in quality and therefore also in price.

  2. Qīng 輕 (ant. zhòng 重 "expensive") is an economic technical term for something being low in price.

• DESPISE
  

  1. The most widely used general word for contempt is qīng 輕 (ant. zhòng 重 "rate as important"), and the word typically describes an attitude based on a critical judgment. See also UNIMPORTANT

  2. Yì 易 (ant. zhòng 重 "treat as important") focusses on the subjective failure to take someone or something seriously and does not necessarily involve a critical judgment.

  3. Bēi 卑 (ant. zūn 尊 "venerate as distinguished") refers to regarding a person as characterised by his or her low social standing.

  4. Jiàn 賤 (guì 貴 "hold in high esteem" and jìng 敬 "respect") are to regard someone as vulgar, and typically as of slight moral worth.

  5. Hòu 後 (ant. xiān 先 "put first") is to fail to show proper respect for someone.

  6. Xiǎo 小 and shǎo 少 (ant. duō 多 "rate highly") expresses a negative judgment on the significance of a person or thing.

  7. Ào 傲 adds the nuance of arrogance to the notion of contempt.

  8. Miè 蔑 "to regard someone with no respect" describes a purely psychological attitude.

  9.Mà4n 慢 refers to a demonstrative failure to show proper respect for someone.

  10. Dú 瀆 refers to a disrespectful attitude or disregard for someone or something.

• VULGAR
  

  1. The most general current word for ordinariness or vulgarity is sú 俗 (ant. yǎ 雅 "elegant"), and the basic parameter of judging something as sú 俗 is relative status in the hierarchy.

  2. Jiàn 賤 (ant. shàn 善 "good" and also, along different lines guì 貴 "noble") refers 1. to noble status and 2. very negatively to a person or a piece of behaviour as not conforming to any demands set by nobility of purpose or status. Lòu 陋 (ant. huá 華 "elaborate and cultivated") refers to vulgarity as a negative feature of places (streets) or behaviour.

  3. Bǐ 鄙 (ant. chóng 崇 "elevated") refers to rusticity and lack cultural polish typical of a person from outlying regions, a country bumpkin.

  4. Yě 野 (ant. wén 文 "properly educacted, civilised") refers to true country style without necessarily strong negative connotations, but with clear overtones of condescension.

  5. Zhòng 眾 (ant. zhuō 卓 "outstanding") refers to what is characteristically linked to the hoi polloi, the ordinary people at large.

  6. Pǐ fū 匹夫 and bù yī 布衣 (ant. jūn zǐ 君子 "gentleman") refer specifically to males of the lower classes or males without public employment.

  7. Pǐ fù 匹婦 refers specifically to the wife of a person without public employment.

• PRECIOUS
  

  1. The current general word for objective preciousness and real high value and importance is bǎo 寶 (ant. zhuì 贅 "trifles"), and this word often has abstract figurative meanings "what one treasures as most important in one's life".

  2. Guì 貴 (ant. jiàn 賤 "cheap") refers to something precious and expensive, and the idea is always that this things are publicly recognised as precious.

  3. Zhēn 珍 (ant. yōng 庸 "perfectly ordinary") is always concrete when nominal and refers to preciousness with strong overtones of exquisite and exlusive distinction of the object concerned, and there often is a touch of the subjective. Hence the common combination zhēn guài 珍怪 "precious and exotic things", and the derived meaning of "culinary delicacies".

• NOBLE
  

  [ABSOLUTE/GRADED]

  [BASIC/MARGINAL]

  [ELEVATED/FAMILIAR]

  [HIGH-DEGREE/LOW-DEGREE]

  [OBJECTIVE/SUBJECTIVE]

  [OFFICIAL/INOFFICIAL]

  [PRIVATE/PUBLIC]

  1. Zūn 尊 (ant. bēi 卑 "lowly, vulgar") is the current word for publicly recognised objective nobility and high status, and the word refers to objective social status in society.

  [ELEVATED], [GRADED], [HIGH-DEGREE], [OBJECTIVE], [PUBLIC], [SOCIAL]

  2. Guì 貴 (ant. jiàn 賤 "of low character") adds to the notion of high social status that of subjectively appreciated nobility of character.

  [GRADED], [HIGH-DEGREE], [PERSONAL], [PUBLIC], [SUBJECTIVE]

  3. Gāo 高 (ant. xià 下 "of lowly status") refers to objective high position in a hierarchy.

  [OBJECTIVE], [PUBLIC], [HIGH-DEGREE]

  4. Shàng 尚 (ant. bǐ 鄙 "of vulgar status") adds to the notion of objective high position in a hierarchy the subjectively appreciated feature of admirability

  [MARGINAL], [SUBJECTIVE]

  5. Shàng 上 (ant. xià 下 "of lower status") refers occasionally to (comparative) seniority in a hierarchy.

  [HIGH-DEGREE], [OBJECTIVE], [OFFICIAL], [PUBLIC]

  6. Yòu 右 (ant. zuǒ 左 "be of relatively lower status") can occasionally refer to relative seniority within the bureaucracy.

  [GRADED], [OBJECTIVE], [OFFICIAL], [PUBLIC]

• HUMBLE
  

  1. The current general word for objective low social status without any connotation concerning moral worth is bēi 卑 (ant. zūn 尊 "objectively venerable by social standards").

  2. Jiàn 賤 (ant. 貴 "objectively of high standard, but also personally and subjectively judged to deserve this high status") typically adds to the notion of objectively judged low status that of subjectively appreciated moral decrepitude.

  3. Xiǎo 小 and shào 少 (all ant. zhǎng 長 "senior") refers to relatively junior status in the bureaucratic hierarchy.

  4. Xià 下 refers to low status in absolute terms.

  5. Wēi 微 refers to a person being of low status so as to be of no substantial political or social importance. See UNIMPORTANT

  NB: One's rank wèi 位 may be said to be zūn 尊 "elevated" or bēi 卑 "lowly", but one's status as such could never be jiàn 賤.

• EXPENSIVE
  

  1. The dominant standard word for the high price of anything is guì 貴 (ant. jiàn 賤 "inexpensive").

  2. Zhòng 重 is a technical economic term referring to a high level of prices.

• VIRTUE
  

  1. The current general term for salient features and principles of charismatic moral potency, integrity and generosity is dé 德, when used as a term of ethical evalutation.

  2. Other general terms for subjectively construed general moral commendation include měi 美 "point of moral distinction" (ant. è 惡 "point of moral decrepitude"), and occasionally gāo 高 "elevated points, elevated spirit" (ant. jiàn 賤 "point of vulgar decrepitude"). NB that shàn 善 "excellent" is not used as a general term of positive moral appreciation in pre-Buddhist texts.

  3. The most current dé 德 "virtues" recognised in pre-Buddhist China are rén 仁 "kind-heartedness", yì 義 "rectitude", lǐ 禮 "propriety", zhì 智 "wisdom", and xìn 信 "good faith".

  4. Further important virtues are xiào 孝 "filial piety", zhōng 忠 "loyal diligence", tì 悌 / 弟 "brotherly affection", lián 廉 "impeccable probity", jié 節 "moderation", and perhaps yǒng 勇 "the courage of one's moral convictions". ( 說苑 : 百行 (xìng) 孝為先 )

  5. Zhōng yōng 中庸 "the mean in action" may be mentioned as a a central Confucian virtue, jiān ài 兼愛 "unIversal love" as a Mohist virtue, wú wéi 無為 "unobtrusive action" as a non-moralistic Taoist virtue.

Word relations
• Ant: (HUMBLE)愛/LIKE The general words expressing preference is ài 愛, but the notion is often hard to distinguish from a preferential desire, and for the semantically closely related hào 好 see DESIRE. 1 Attribution
• Ant: (VULGAR)榮/FAMOUS Róng 榮 (ant. rǔ 辱 "shame, humiliation") which refers to any form of widely recognised high renown. 1 Attribution
• Ant: (CHEAP)貴/EXPENSIVE The dominant standard word for the high price of anything is guì 貴 (ant. jiàn 賤 "inexpensive"). 4 Attributions
• Ant: (HUMBLE)貴/NOBLE Guì 貴 (ant. jiàn 賤 "of low character") adds to the notion of high social status that of subjectively appreciated nobility of character. [HIGH-DEGREE], [PERSONAL], [SUBJECTIVE] 21 Attributions
• Ant: (HUMBLE)富/RICH The general word for wealth is fù 富 (ant. pín 貧 "poor"), and the word has a remarkably wide range of syntactic roles.
• Ant: (HUMBLE)尊/NOBLE Zūn 尊 (ant. bēi 卑 "lowly, vulgar") is the current word for publicly recognised objective nobility and high status, and the word refers to objective social status in society. [ELEVATED], [HIGH-DEGREE], [OBJECTIVE], [PUBLIC], [SOCIAL]
• Epithet: (HUMBLE)臣/MINISTER The general word for a government minister at any level and of any kind is chén 臣, generically rén chén 人臣. 2 Attributions
• Contrast: (DESPISE)薄/DESPISE
• Contrast: (DESPISE)輕 / 輕/DESPISE The most widely used general word for contempt is qīng 輕 (ant. zhòng 重 "rate as important"), and the word typically describes an attitude based on a critical judgment. See also UNIMPORTANT
• Assoc: (HUMBLE)卑/HUMBLE The current general word for objective low social status without any connotation concerning moral worth is bēi 卑 (ant. zūn 尊 "objectively venerable by social standards"). 1 Attribution
• Assoc: (HUMBLE)疏/DISTANT Shū 疏 (ant. qīn 親 "close") often refers to distance of relation in a more than purely physical sense. 2 Attributions
• Assoc: (HUMBLE)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. 12 Attributions
• Assoc: (HUMBLE)下/HUMBLE Xià 下 refers to low status in absolute terms.
• Assoc: (HUMBLE)微/HUMBLE Wēi 微refers to a person being of low status so as to be of no substantial political or social importance. See UNIMPORTANT
• Assoc: (HUMBLE)窮/POOR Qióng 窮 (ant. fù 富 "rich") refers to an extreme state of destitution, which may, however, be transitory, and the word may also refer not so much to poverty as such as marked lack of expected success, professional failure (ant. dá 達); and the word may also refer to persons without regular means of support such as widows and orphans.
• Assoc: (HUMBLE)辱/DISGRACE Rǔ 辱 refers to public humiliation and public disgrace typically caused by overt actions or reactions of others.
• Relat: (HUMBLE)鄙/VULGAR Bǐ 鄙 (ant. chóng 崇 "elevated") refers to rusticity and lack cultural polish typical of a person from outlying regions, a country bumpkin. 1 Attribution