Taxonomy of meanings for 鏡:　　

Additional information about 鏡

說文解字: 【鏡】，景也。从金、竟聲。 【居慶切】

Criteria
• MIRROR
  

  1. The current general word for a mirror is jìng 鏡. [The word is known since the Warring States. Mirrors for the first time appeared in Central China in Shang times, but became no common prior to the Warring States period. Ancient Chinese mirrors were made of bronze, they were of round shape with a button in the centre to hang it up, and their one side was richly decorated.

  2. Jiàn 鑒 originally referred to a sheet of copper placed under water to obtain a mirroring effect, but from Warring States times onwards the word came to be used as synonymous with jìng 鏡. [Note that the original character was jiān 監. I have not found evidence that it referred to a copper sheet, but the term refers also to the bronze water basin which could be used like a mirror. It is supported by the form of the character, which represents a man looking at the vessel. In ZUO the term already refers to a bronze mirror, and since the Warring States, the word came to be used together with jìng 鏡.

Word relations
• Epithet: (MIRROR)明/BRIGHT The general term for what appears luminous or bright in the broadest sense of these terms is míng 明 (ant. àn 暗 "dark" and yǐn 隱 "dark"), a word heavily laden with religious overtones. 2 Attributions
• Synon: (MIRROR)鑒 / 鑑/MIRROR Jiàn 鑒 originally referred to a sheet of copper placed under water to obtain a mirroring effect, but from Warring States times onwards the word came to be used as synonymous with jìng 鏡. [Note that the original character was jiān 監. I have not found evidence that it referred to a copper sheet, but the term refers also to the bronze water basin which could be used like a mirror. It is supported by the form of the character, which represents a man looking at the vessel. In ZUO the term already refers to a bronze mirror, and since the Warring States, the word came to be used together with jìng 鏡. 1 Attribution