Taxonomy of meanings for 避:　　

  • 避 bì (OC: beɡs MC: biɛ) 毗義切 去 廣韻：【違也迴也毗義切一 】
    • AVOID
      • vtoNstay clear of; keep away from, get out of the way of, keep out of the way of; ZZ 37: (decide to) keep away from (high and low places); flinch before (an enemy); bypass and fail to consider (a candidate);
      • vtoNshirkshirk
      • vt+V[0]avoid to V
      • vt(oN)shun or avoid to step on the contextually determinate object
      • causative>HINDER
        • abstract>OPPOSE
        • HIDE
          • presence>WITHDRAW
            • DELETEwithdraw from a place where one temporarily was
            • vtoNwithdraw from (a place N)
            • vtoNfigurativewithdraw from figuratively
          • in favour of someone else>YIELD
            • generalised>LEAVE
              • vtoNrun away from
            • causative>REMOVE
              • vtoNremove from one's presence
              • vtoNpassivebe removed; be cleared away
          • =僻WICKED
          • bìFLEE
            • vtoNtry to escape from, try to flee from, run away fromCH

          Additional information about 避

          說文解字: 【避】，回也。从辵、辟聲。 【毗義切】

            Criteria
          • AVOID

            [[BASIC/DERIVED]]

            [ABSTRACT/CONCRETE]

            [DELIBERATE/INVOLUNTARY]

            [GENERAL/SPECIFIC]

            [GRAMMATICALISED/LEXICAL]

            [HIGH-DEGREE/LOW-DEGREE]

            1. The general word is miǎn 免 (ant. zāo 遭 "encounter"), and this refers to any voluntary or involuntary process leading to one's escape from what otherwise might occur, especially one's being spared a negative experience.

            [CONCRETE], [GENERAL]

            2. Bì 避 (ant. mào 冒 "expose oneself to"), unlike miǎn 免, is always deliberate and describes a strategy of action which successfully avoids an undesirable impending danger.

            [DELIBERATE]

            3. Yuàn 遠 (ant. jìn 近 "move close to") is a specific strategy of avoidance which is well within one's control and consists in keeping what is undesirable at a long distance from one.

            [DELIBERATE], [HIGH-DEGREE]

            4. Lí 離 differs from yuàn 遠 in the fact that no great distance, concrete or abstract, is implied in the word.

            [DELIBERATE]; [[DERIVED]]

            5. Chú 除 refers to the avoidance or removal of something that is perceived as posing a powerful threat. See REMOVE

            [CAUSATIVE], [DELIBERATE]; [[DERIVED]]

            6. Qù 去 (ant. lí 罹 "get exposed to") is avoidance through getting rid of what is threatening.

            [CAUSATIVE], [DELIBERATE]; [[DERIVED]]

            7. Jué 絕 refers to avoidance through getting rid completely and definitively of what is threatening.

            [ABSTRACT], [CAUSATIVE], [DELIBERATE], [HIGH-DEGREE]

            8. Tuì 退 refers to avoidance by withdrawing from what exposes one to what is threatening.

            [DELIBERATE], [SPECIFIC]

            9. Wù 勿 is a negation referring to an instruction to avoid doing something, and the word often has an object pronoun understood. See NOT.

            [GRAMMATICALISED]

          • MAT

            1. The more common word xí 席 refers to a mat used for sitting on, typically in ceremonial contexts. Bì xí 避席 is to leave this kind of sitting mat in order to make a formal pronouncement. A xí 席 may also be placed on a bed.

            2. Yán 筵 is specifically the larger carpet-like mat put on the floor on which the xí 席 is placed in turn, but this distinction came to be blurred. The word is very regularly associated with the jī 几 "low table" which one suspects were placed on the yán 筵 alongside with the xí 席 "sitting mat".

            3. Rù 褥 refers to a mattress-like padded mat used for sleeping on.

          • CHOOSE

            1. The general word for making a deliberate and in principle free choice is qǔ 取 "to choose or opt for (the preferred alternative), to prefer" (ant 捨 "reject"), and what is thus chosen or preferred may be concrete or abstract.

            2. Zé 擇 is "to choose between, make a free choice among (alternative objects presenting themselves)" and the word applies to all sorts of choices, formal or informal.

            3. Xuǎn 選 and the rarer bá 拔 (ant. chì 斥 "set aside") is an administrative term referring to the choice of incumbents for a position to be filled according to given criteria of choice.

            4. Cǎi 采 is close in meaning to qǔ 取 but does not naturally correspond to any antonym like shě 捨 "reject".

            5. Qū 趨 (ant. bì 避 "shy away from and avoid") and the rarer xiàng 嚮 (ant. bèi 背 "turn one's back on") refer to a tendency to exercise a certain preference.

            6. Níng 寧 "would rather, prefer to" expresses a free moral or intellectual or practical choice. See PREFER

          • WITHDRAW

            1. The current general word for withdrawing from somewhere is tuì 退 (ant. jìn 進 "move forwards"), and the withdrawal can be over a short or a long distance, often with the purpose of returning to one's point of departure.

            2. Què 卻 (ant. qián 前 "move forward") refers to backing off, often under pressure, and typically for a shorter distance, and usually the immediate purpose of the withdrawal is not that of returning to one's point of departure but to get out of a confrontation.

            3. Bà 罷 (ant. gōng 攻 "move forward to attack") refers to an army withdrawing its military forces.

            4. Bì 避 (ant. duì 對 "face up to") refers to a polite withdrawal from an honoured or regular position, typical a position facing someone in authority.

            5. Yin3 引 refers to the act of preparing and then commencing a formal military withdrawal.

            Jī jīn 擊金 and míng jīn 鳴金 "beating the bells for military withdrawal" (ant. jī gǔ 擊鼓 "beat the drums for a military attack") refers to giving a signal for withdrawal of troops.