Taxonomy of meanings for 銳:　　

Additional information about 銳

說文解字:

Criteria
• SHARP
  

  1. The most general current word for sharpness both of a point and of a blade is lì 利.

  2. Ruì 銳 refers to sharpness as pointedness, and typically a sign of excellence.

  3. Lì 厲／礪 is causative and refers to the sharpening of a tool or a weapon.

• EXCELLENT
  

  1. The standard current general word for anything or anyone who naturally meets certain generally accepted high standards of excellence is liáng 良 (ant. liè 劣 "inferior").

  2. 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.

  3. Jīng 精 (of general application) (ant. cū 粗 "of only rough quality") and ruì 銳 (typically applied to military prowess) (ant. dùn 鈍 "of lesser quality") refer to above-average performance without suggestion individual excellence.

  4. Yōu 優 (ant. liè 劣 "inferior") and cháng 長 (ant. duǎn 短 "of lesser quality") refers to a distinct advantage in excellence compared with some reference group or some point of reference.

  5. Gōng 工 (ant. yú 寙 "fumbling, inept") is to be specialised in something concrete or even professional in an area, typically a craft.

  6. Jiā 佳 (ant. xià 下 "inferior in quality") implies manifestly recognised striking excellence regarding such qualities such as beauty or moral cultivation.

  7. 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.

  8. Jiā 嘉 (ant. yōng 庸 "mediocre") refers to manifestly recognised striking excellence, typically of an abstract kind.

  9. Zhǐ 旨 (ant. báo 薄 "of slight quality") refers specifically to excellence in the quality of wine, and sometimes to other foodstuffs.

  10. Jùn 駿 (ant. nú 駑 "miserable hag") refers specifically to excellence in horses, and by extension occasionally serves as metaphoric for outstanding personalities.

• BLADE
  

  1. The general current word for the cutting edge of an instrument is rèn 刃.

  2. Ruì 銳 refers to the sharp point of a weapon which normally does not have an edge.

  3. Fēng 鋒 refers to the sharp point at the end of the edge of a weapon.

  NB: máng 鋩 "sharp point of a weapon" is not current in pre-Buddhist Chinese.

• ARMY
  

  [ARCHAIC/CURRENT]

  [GENERAL/SPECIFIC]

  [IMPERSONAL/PERSONIFIED]

  [MOBILE/STATIONARY]

  [LARGE/SMALL]

  1. Bīng 兵 "armed force" focusses on the weapons ready for use and may refer to any military grouping.

  [GENERAL]

  2. Jūn 軍 is a complete army as a unit, from Spring and Autumn times onwards, normally attached to an army camp. Complete parts of an army are always jūn 軍, rarely shī 師. Hence the expressions sān jūn 三軍, zhōng jūn 中軍, shàng jūn 上軍, xià jūn 下軍. An army is counted by the number of jūn 軍 in it, where each jūn 軍 is said to be 10 000 men, at least in the Qi system. Systems have varied in different states. For detals of the early history see the monograph by KOLB.

  [IMPERSONAL], [LARGE], [OFFICIAL]

  3. Shī 師 refers generally to troops a military force on a campaign, not necessarily a complete army. ZUO Ding 4.1.6 commentators quantify an armed force as consisting of 2500 men, in one exceptional context. One often speaks of 三軍之師, never of 三師之軍. One asks for troops 請／乞師, and not for jūn 軍 which would be asking for the whole army of a friendly state. The troops of another state one uses are always shī 師 (e.g. 衛人以燕師伐鄭 ), one's own troops can be described as jūn 軍 or shī 師 almost indifferently. One offers food to the enemy shī 師, not to their jūn 軍. (HF 23.27:01) There are ruì shī 銳師 "crack troops" but no ruì jūn 銳軍 "crack army". Similarly, 楚師之良. The shī 師 may be said to hear about something 師聞之, not the jūn 軍.

  [GENERAL], [MOBILE], [PERSONIFIED!]

  4. Lu# 旅 is an archaic word for armed forces in any combatant or non-combatant function, and in ZUO Ding 4.1.6 it is quantified to consist of 500 men, and.

  [ARCHAIC], [SMALL]

  5. Duì 隊 is common in Han texts for a division in the army, the size of this division could vary, but did not exceed the hundreds. SEE ALSO BATALLION

  [SMALL]

Word relations
• Epithet: (EXCELLENT)兵/SOLDIER1 Attribution
• Epithet: (SHARP)師/ARMY Shī 師 refers generally to troops a military force on a campaign, not necessarily a complete army. ZUO Ding 4.1.6 commentators quantify an armed force as consisting of 2500 men, in one exceptional context. One often speaks of 三軍之師, never of 三師之軍. One asks for troops 請／乞師, and not for jūn 軍 which would be asking for the whole army of a friendly state. The troops of another state one uses are always shī 師 (e.g. 衛人以燕師伐鄭), one's own troops can be described as jūn 軍 or shī 師 almost indifferently. One offers food to the enemy shī 師, not to their jūn 軍. (HF 23.27:01) There are ruì shī 銳師 "crack troops" but no ruì jūn 銳軍 "crack army". Similarly, 楚師之良. The shī 師 may be said to hear about something 師聞之, not the jūn 軍. [GENERAL], [MOBILE], [PERSONIFIED!]