Taxonomy of meanings for 闕:　　

Additional information about 闕

說文解字: 【闕】，門觀也。从門、欮聲。 〔小徐本作「從門、厥省聲。」〕 【去月切】

Criteria
• MISTAKE
  

  1. 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.

  2. Wù 誤 (ant. zhèng 正 "correct") typically refers quite generally to intellectual misapprehension.

  3. Miù 謬 (ant. zhèng 正 "correct") typically refers to an intellectual misapprehension because of complete baselessness of what is being said.

  4. Quē 闕 (ant. wán 完 "completely right") is a polite circumlocution for a superior's inadvertencies or mistakes in action..

  5. Tè 忒 and chà 差 is an archaic word for unreglemented personal or political conduct.

  NB: Cuò 錯 as a standard word for "mistake" is post-Han.

• TOWER
  

  1. The most current general word for an elevated building erected for pleasure is tái 臺, and the word refers originally to a raised platform with stairs leading up to it, and with balustrades. In ancient China, most of important building were raised on platforms built of rammed earth. This custom spread already in the third millenium B.C. Since these times, large platforms without substantial buildings on it were also known, and they probably served to important public purposes. In the Chunqiu period, tái 臺 were often part of palaces. The period during which raised platforms - built for pleasure - most flourished was nevertheless the Warring States and Han. [HUANG 1995: 1116 - 1117]

  2. Què 闕 refers to the towers built by the city gates or close to other main entrances, part of the function of which was to guard against evil spirits. Representations of these are extremely common throughout Han reliefs.

  3. Xiè 榭 is a platform with a pavilion, and the word can also refer to the pavilion as such. The term sometimes also refers to a building used for military purposes, perhaps in the form of an open pavilion.

  4. Tíng 停／亭 refers to an observation post in the form of an open-wall pavilion. The word also generally refers to the pavilion with open walls which can be built everywhere. It can be, but not necesarilly, raised on a high platform.

  5. Guàn 觀 is a pavilion built in a high place, and with a good view. It was originally part of a palace, later it could be built everywhere.

• BUILDING
  

  1. The most general current word for a building of any kind is gōng 宮. Any gōng 宮 must have an outer wall other than the wall of the house itself. Moreover gōng 宮 may contain minor shì 室 "individual houses" and constitute a kind of traditional "clan condominium". In the Western Zhou and Chunqiu period gōng 宮 referred apparently both to the temples and living mansions of aristocracy: see XIANG 1997: 192; HUANG 1995: 993. During the Warring States, the word was mainly used for palaces of aristocracy and the ruler: see HUANG 1995: 993. After Qin times the word came to refer specifically to palaces. Reference to the outer wall of the gōng 宮 is in the HAOLING chapter of the MOZI. See HUANG 1995: 993. [ill.: HAYASHI 1976: 4-32]

  2. Shì 室 is any building, can be smaller than gōng 宮, need not have an outer surrounding wall. It seems that when inside gōng 宮, shǐ 室 was located behind the main hall táng 堂 : HUANG 1995: 994; ZHGD 1993: 99; ill.: HAYASHI 1976: 4-3. The term can also refer to the family or household: HUANG 1995: 994. See CLAN

  3. Fáng 房 refers to one of the wings on the sides of the main building shì 室, sometimes used as bedrooms. There may be many such xiāng fáng 廂房. [HUANG 1995: 995]

  4. Wū 屋 refers originally to the roof, but from Han times onwards this word can come to replace gōng 宮 in its archaic meanings "family complex of buildings with a surrounding wall". [Evidence is in the ZHOULI: HUANG 1995: 995]

  5. Táng 堂 refers to the hall which seems to serve mainly ceremonial and since the Warring States also political purposes. From Han times táng 堂 in its original meaning was replaced by diàn 殿. [HUANG 1995: 981 - 982; YANG 2000: 170 - 171.]

  6. Diàn 殿 is a large and tall hall, often for audiences, in the palace or in the temple. In this meaning the word came to use in the late Warring States, and in Han times it replaced the term táng 堂. [HUANG 1995: 983 - 984]

  7. Lóu 樓 refers to any building higher than two flooors. It was common in the Han period, and could serve various purposes. [ZHGD 1995: 98; SUN 1991: 186 - 189; ill.: SUN 1991: tab. 47]

  8. Què 闕 are the buildings on both sides of the gate. The oldest textual evidence comes from the Western Zhou (see XIANG 1997: 523), but què 闕 were most common in the Han. Originally, què 闕 were wooden constructions raised on platforms of rammed earth; in the Han period, they were often stone buildings. [HUANG 1995: 988 - 991; SUN 1991: 179 - 182; ill.: SUN 1991: tab. 45.]

  9. Guàn 觀 in the Chunqiu and Warring States referred to the building raised on a platform in front of the gate of the palace. In the Han, guàn 觀 was used as another term for què 闕; besides this, it also referred to other buildings raised on a terrace: HUANG 1995: 986 - 988]

  10. Shà 廈 refers to any high building.

  11. Láng 廊 perhaps refers to any building with column corridor; but textual evidence for Han and pre-Han period is scanty. [HUANG 1995: 1005]

• LACK
  

  1. The general term for the absence, lack or the failure to have something is wú 無 (ant. yǒu 有 "have").

  2. Quē 缺 refers to the absence of what ought to be there.

  3. Quē 闕 can refer specifically to the deliberate or inadvertent omission of what one might expect was there, but sometimes the word is used interchangeably with quē 缺.

  4. Fá 乏 (ant. zú 足 "have enough of") refers to the insufficiency of something needed or the absence of supplies.

• DISAPPEAR
  

  1. The dominant word for ceasing to exist is wáng 亡 (and there is no early evidence for the reading wú 亡 ).

  2. Mò 沒 "go under" is a dramatic verb referring to the disappearance of something.

  3. Xí 息 "be extinguished" is a politely periphrastic way of referring to the disappearance of something.

  4. Què 闕 can refer to the disappearance of a practice.

• ECLIPSE
  

  1. The common general term for an eclipse is shí 蝕 (the earlier form being shí 食 ). It can refer both to a solar eclipse (rì shí 日蝕 ) or lunar eclipse (yuè shí 月蝕 ).

  2. Shěng 眚 is a term for an eclipse (both solar and lunar) laying an emphasis on its catastrophical connotations.

  3. Quēyǐng 闕景 refers to a solar eclipse.

• SURPLUS
  

  1. The current general word for left-overs or surplus is yú 餘 (ant. quē 缺 "in insufficient supply").

  2. Duō 多 (ant. shǎo 少 "in poor supply") emphasises sheer quantity.

  3. Bǔ 補 (ant. quē 闕 "causing shortage") focusses on something being extra and fulfilling a supplementary function.

  4. Xiàn 羨 is occasionally used to refer to agricultural or other surplus.

Word relations
• Ant: (EMPTY)盈/FULL The ancient standard word for fullness of any kind is yíng 盈. 1 Attribution
• Object: (DEFECT)補/REPAIR Bǔ 補 focusses on the act of supplementing something as a constitutive element to get something into good repair. 4 Attributions
• Epithet: (TOWER)高/HIGH The manifestly dominant general word is gāo 高(ant. bēi 卑 "low" and xià 下 "low") which refers to concrete as well as abstract elevation. 1 Attribution
• Assoc: (DISAPPEAR)亡/DISAPPEAR The dominant word for ceasing to exist is wáng 亡 (and there is no early evidence for the reading wú 亡).
• Assoc: (DEFECT)遺/DEFECT1 Attribution
• Assoc: (BUILDING)門/GATE The current general word for a gate or door of any kind is mén 門, but the word also refers specifically to the two-leaf main gate rather than small doors inside a building complex. 1 Attribution
• Synon: (LACK)缺/LACK Quē 缺 refers to the absence of what ought to be there. 1 Attribution