Taxonomy of meanings for 辛:　　

  • 辛 xīn (OC: siŋ MC: sin) 息鄰切 平 廣韻：【薑味也爾雅云太歳在辛曰重光又姓夏啓封支子于莘莘辛聲相近遂爲辛氏漢初辛蒲爲趙魏名將及徙家隴西便爲隴西人 】
    • BITTER
      • nsubjectthe pungent; what is pungent; the acid; what is acid
      • vadNbitter; acid
      • vipeppery pungent
    • HEAVENLY STEM
      • neighth Heavenly Stem
    • DATE
      • p[adN]OBI: the 8th, 18th, 28th, 38th, 48th or 58th day of the hexagesinal cycle
    • RULERS OF SHANG
      • SURNAMES
        • =新

        Additional information about 辛

        說文解字: 【辛】，秋時萬物成而孰，金剛味辛，辛痛卽泣出。从一、从䇂。䇂，辠也。 〔小徐本「䇂」上無「从」。〕 辛承庚，象人股。凡辛之屬皆从辛。 【息鄰切】

          Criteria
        • REST

          1. The current general word for resting is xí 息 (ant. zuò 作 "work").

          2. Xiū 休 (ant. láo 勞 "work hard") refers to brief break in a working process.

          3. Yàn 晏 (ant. qín 勤 "work assiduously") refers to relaxing at home.

          4. Qì 憩 (ant. xīn 辛 "work strenuously until exhaustion") is an elevated poetic word for resting.

          NB: Xiē 歇 is post-Han.

        • DISTRESS

          1. The most representative current general word for distress is probably kùn 困 (ant. ān 安 "be in a good state"), although the group of words discussed here is selected on singularly problematic grounds.

          2. Qióng 窮 (ant. tōng 通 "have a way out from a difficult situation") refers to a form form of distress as something from which it is impossible or hard to escape.

          3. Kǔ 苦 and the much rarer xīn 辛 (ant. lè 樂 "be in a joyful state") refer to a lasting objective state of distress caused by identifiable external conditions.

          4. Shāng 傷 (ant. yuè 悅 ) refers to lasting psychological distress.

          5. Yōu 憂 (ant. xǐ 喜 "joyful occasion") may very occasionally be used to refer not as standardly to worries of some kind, but to an objective state of precarious trouble.

          6. Jiù 疚 refers to purely psychological and often moral distress caused by a bad conscience or the like.

        • BITTER

          [[COMMON/RARE]]

          [+FIG/LITERAL]

          [GENERAL/SPECIFIC]

          [HIGH-DEGREE/LOW-DEGREE]

          1. The general word for bitterness is kǔ 苦 (ant. gān 甘 "sweet; tasty"), and this word is often metaphorical.

          [+FIG], [GENERAL]; [[COMMON]]

          2. Xīn 辛 refers to a more peppery, pungent bitterness, taken to be quite different from kǔ 苦, and the word has few metaphorical uses in pre-Buddhist Chinese.

          [HIGH-DEGREE], [LITERAL]

          3. Tú 荼 (ant.* yí 飴 "sweetener") refers to a plant known for its bitterness, and by extension the rare word means "bitter thing". The word is marginal in this group.

          [SPECIFIC]

          Word relations
        • Assoc: (BITTER)苦/BITTER The general word for bitterness is kǔ 苦 (ant. gān 甘 "sweet; tasty"), and this word is heavenly laden with metaphorical potentialities.