Taxonomy of meanings for 過:　　

Additional information about 過

說文解字: 【過】，度也。从辵、咼聲。 【古禾切】

Criteria
• EXCESSIVE
  

  1. The standard word for excessive intensity of anything is tài 太／泰.

  2. Yǐ3 已 is an archaic adverb meaning "excessively".

  3. Shèn 甚 can come to refer to excessive intensity or degree of anything, and the very is syntactically quite versatile.

  4. Yín 淫 stresses the aspect of indulgence often inherent in excessiveness.

  5. Guò 過 often, but not always, focusses on the aspect of transgression in excessiveness.

• LEAP OVER
  

  1. The general word for getting across an obstacle is perhaps guò 過, although the emphasis is not on the leap itself.

  2. Yuè 越 can refer to the action of jumping across something.

  3. Yú 踰 / 逾 refers to leaping over or scaling something, as for example a wall.

  4. Chāo 超 can refer to leaping up on or over something.

  5. Kuà 跨 is just to stride across something easy to get across.

• BLAME
  

  [ARCHAIC/CURRENT]

  [DRAMATIC/UNDRAMATIC]

  [ELEVATED/FAMILIAR]

  [FACE-TO-FACE/NOT-FACE-TO-FACE]

  [GENERAL/SPECIFIC]

  [HIGH-DEGREE/LOW-DEGREE]

  [PRIVATE/PUBLIC]

  1. The current general word for declaring someone morally rather than criminally responsible for a misdeed is jiù 咎 (ant. yù 譽 "praise").

  [ARCHAIC?], [NOT-FACE-TO-FACE!], [PRIVATE]

  2. Shǔ 數 refers to the recounting and publicly recounting and listing up of the misdeeds or mistakes someone has made.

  [FACE-TO-FACE], [HIGH-DEGREE]

  3. Zé 責 (ant. chēng 稱 "praise someone for something") often refers to the public apportioning of blame without the threat of legal action. [see ACCUSE]

  [FORMAL], [FACE-TO-FACE]

  4. Ràng 讓 (ant. zàn 贊 "commend strongly, in public") refers to strong public blame and abuse.

  [DRAMATIC], [FACE-TO-FACE], [PUBLIC],

  5. Qiào 誚 refers to a strong and often abusive public reprimand.

  [DRAMATIC], [FACE-TO-FACE], [FAMILIAR]; [[RARE]]

  5. Yóu 尤 often refers to official blame and censure, but there are archaic generalised uses of the word where it simply means "to apportion blame for something".

  [ARCHAIC+], [ELEVATED], [NOT-FACE-TO-FACE]

  6. Jí 疾 (ant. měi 美 "praise the splendid qualities of someone") refers to strong personal stricture.

  [DRAMATIC], [FACE-TO-FACE], [INFORMAL]

  7. Guò 過 (ant. yù 譽 ) typically refers to a mild and/or subjective moral disagreement with someone. See MISTAKE

  [LOW-DEGREE], [MARGINAL]

• CROSS OVER
  

  1. The most general current word for crossing over something is guò 過.

  2. Dù 渡 typically refers to crossing water by foot or boat, and the word became exceedingly common from Han times onwards.

  3. Shè 涉 typically refers to crossing water by foot.

  4. Jīng 經 typically refers to crossing or passing through territory.

  5. Lì 歷 refers to passing through territories or time spans. For the latter meaning the character 曆 came to be used in later times.

  6. Yuè 越 and chāo 超 refer to leaping or striding across something. See also LEAP OVER

  7. Kuà 跨 refers to striding across something, see LEAP OVER.

  8. Jué 絕 refers in a somewhat elevated style to crossing a river or a desert by any means of transport.

  9. Fàn 犯 refers to managing to get across something that is hard to cross, but this usage is rare.

  10. Háng 杭／航 is an ancient word for crossing a river by ferry.

• WEATHER
  

  There is no commonly used general concept for the weather in pre-Buddhist Chinese. The closest we come is perhaps qì 氣 as in ZUO 天有六氣, but consider the whole passage:

  天有六氣， (In the same way) there are six heavenly influences,

  降生五味， which descend and produce the five tastes,

  發為五色， go forth in the five colours,

  徵為五聲。 and are verified in the five notes;

  淫生六疾。 but when they are in excess, they produce the six diseases.

  六氣曰陰、陽、風、雨、晦、明也， Those six influences are denominated the yin, the yang, wind, rain, obscurity, and brightness.

  分為四時， In their separation, they form the four seasons;

  序為五節， in their order, they form the five (elementary) terms.

  過則為菑： When any of them is in excess, there ensues calamity.

  陰淫寒疾， An excess of the yin leads to diseases of the cold;

  陽淫熱疾， of the yang, to diseases of heat;

  風淫末疾， of wind, to diseases of the extremities;

  雨淫腹疾， of rain, to diseases of the belly;

  晦淫惑疾， of obscurity, to diseases of delusion;

  明淫心疾。 of brightness to diseases of the mind.

• VISIT
  

  1. The most current general word for paying a visit is jiàn 見.

  2. Yè 謁 refers to any formal visit, private or official.

  3. Pìn 聘 refers to a formal and official visit on behalf of some political authority.

  4. Wèn 問 refers to a visit to a sick person or to the bereaved.

  5. Cháo 朝 refers to a formal visit or general attendance at court.

  6. Guō 過 refers to informal visit en passant.

  7. Cān 參 refers to a visit to a superior.

• CRIME
  

  1. The current general word for a serious legal transgression is zuì 罪 (ant. gōng 功 "merit"), and the current general word for a minor legal transgression is guò 過 (ant. xiào 效 "positive contribution").

  2. Yóu 尤 refers generally to morally disreputable behaviour.

  3. Jiù 咎 (ant. láo 勞 "obtain merits") refers to an action for which one deserves blame.

  4. Dào 盜 (ant.* dé 德 "virtue") refers to morally and legally outrageous behaviour.

  5. Yuè 越 can come to refer to a failure to keep within the boundaries set by one's social status or office.

  6. Gū 辜 (ant. xún 勛 "significant contribution") is an archaising word referring to serious crimes at an early stage, but later commonly used (mostly in negated form) to refer to any crime.

  7. Tè 忒, qiān 愆, and shěng 眚 refer to a minor but culpable error.

  8. Qiān 愆 refers to a minor mistake in procedure.

• TRUE
  

  1. The most current word is rán 然 "it is so" (ant. fǒu 否 "be untrue"), and what is said to be so is a yán 言 "statement', and things are claimed to be as stated in that statement.

  2. Kě 可 refers to logical or ethical acceptability.

  3. Xìn 信 (ant. zhà 詐 "fraudulent and not reliable") refers prototypically to reliablity as information.

  4. Shì 是 (ant. fēi 非 "wrong") refers prototypically to what invites assent or approval.

  5. Zhēn 真 (ant. jiǎ 假 "fake") typically refers to what contains nothing faked or unreal and is genuinely true.

  6. Dāng 當 (ant. guò 過 "wrong") refers prototypically to what fits the facts and does not deviate.

  7. Yǒu 有 (ant. wú 無 "there is no such fact")refers abstractly to the occurrence of an event or the truth of an abstract proposition.

  8. Chéng 誠 (ant. wěi 偽 "faked") refers to honest truth. (Note that chéng 誠 normally means "earnest" in early texts and has nothing to do with this meaning.)

  9. Shí 實 "real and true" (ant. xū 虛 "only apparently") refers to something not being a figment of the imagination. See REAL.

• HERO
  

  1. The current general term for a person of almost superhuman strength or talent is xióng 雄 (ant. yōng 庸 "ordinary person").

  2. Jié 傑 / 桀 refers to an outstanding hero.

  3. Yīng 英 focusses on the hero as an illustrious figure.

  4. Jùn 俊 focus on the hero as a remarkable figure towering above ordinary man.

  5. Háo 豪 focusses on the hero as possessed of very great strength.

  6. Shèng 聖 (ant. fán 凡 "ordinary person") focusses on the hero as possessed of very great superior creativity and wisdom, and the word is mostly expanded to shèng rén 聖人.

  7. Xián 賢 (ant. bù xiào 不肖 "the incompetent") focusses on the hero as possessed of very unusually high moral, political, and practical talents.

  WENZI, shangli: 智過百人謂之杰，十人謂之豪，千人謂之俊，萬人謂之英。

  HUAINAN, taizu: 故智過萬人者謂之英，千人者謂之俊，百人者謂之豪，十人者謂之杰。

Word relations
• Ant: (MISTAKE)功/MERIT The current general word for achievements of any kind is gōng 功.
• Ant: (EXCESSIVE)及/REACH The current general word for reaching a place or even an abstract stage is jí 及.
• Ant: (MISTAKE)善/EXCELLENT Shàn 善 (ant. zhuó 拙 "inept"), when the word does not mean moral goodness, but is close in meaning to liáng 良, refers to an acquired specific skill or propensity for certain forms of action.
• Ant: (EXCESSIVE)美/EXCELLENT Měi 美 (ant. è 惡 "of bad quality") when it does not have its standard meaning "beauty" indicates striking or admirable high quality of anything concrete or abstract.
• Ant: (EXCESSIVE)不及/INSUFFICIENT1 Attribution
• Ant: (EXCESSIVE)不若/INFERIOR
• Contrast: (CRIME)惡/WICKED The most current and general word for wickedness is probably è 惡 (ant. shàn 善 "good"), but it must be noted that in early texts the word is more current in the meaning of physical ugliness.
• Contrast: (CRIME)失/MISTAKE The most current general word for a mistake is probably shī 失 (ant. dé 得 "get things right") refers generally to an inadvertent mistake in action, and normally of minor kind.
• Contrast: (CRIME)惡/WICKED The most current and general word for wickedness is probably è 惡 (ant. shàn 善 "good"), but it must be noted that in early texts the word is more current in the meaning of physical ugliness.
• Contrast: (CRIME)辜/CRIME Gū 辜 (ant. xún 勛 "significant contribution") is an archaising word referring to serious crimes at an early stage, but later commonly used (mostly in negated form) to refer to any crime.
• Assoc: (MISTAKE)瑕/DEFECT1 Attribution
• Assoc: (MISTAKE)罪/CRIME The current general word for a serious legal transgression is zuì 罪 (ant. gōng 功 "merit"), and the current general word for a minor legal transgression is guò 過 (ant. xiào 效 "positive contribution"). 1 Attribution
• Assoc: (SURPASS)超/SURPASS
• Assoc: (CRIME)罪/CRIME The current general word for a serious legal transgression is zuì 罪 (ant. gōng 功 "merit"), and the current general word for a minor legal transgression is guò 過 (ant. xiào 效 "positive contribution"). 3 Attributions
• Assoc: (MISTAKE)誤/MISTAKE
• Synon: (MISTAKE)非/MISTAKE
• Relat: (MISTAKE)改/IMPROVE The standard word for changing something for the better is gǎi 改. 2 Attributions
• Oppos: (MISTAKE)可/GOOD1 Attribution