Taxonomy of meanings for 隸:　　

  • 隸 lì (OC: rɯɯds MC: lei) 郎計切 去 廣韻：【同隸俗作𥻳 】
  • 隸 lì (OC: ɡ-rɯɯds MC: lei) 郎計切 去 廣韻：【僕隸 】
    • SCRIBE
      • nclerk; scribe
      • nadNclerical
    • SERVANT
      • nservant (non-eslaved)
    • SLAVE
      • nmenial worker employed in a government office; generally: menial subjects, menials
      • vt+prep+Nbe a slave to N
      • vtoNserve as slave to
      • n(post-N)a slave of a certain grade (among the slaves) ZUOCH
      • vadNvulgar, uncivilised self-deprecatory 隸臣　your vulgar servantCH
    • ASSISTANT
      • SERVE
        • VILLAIN
          • DESPISE
            • SCRIPT STYLE
              • INVESTIGATE
                • FOLLOW
                  • SURNAMES
                    • = 肄

                    Additional information about 隸

                    說文解字: 【隸】，附箸也。从隶、柰聲。 【郎計切】 【𨾀(隷)】，篆文隸从古文之體。 【臣鉉等：未詳古文所出。】

                      Criteria
                    • SLAVE

                      1. The standard general word for a dependent low-status servant or slave is nú 奴, and this word became quite currrent in Han times.

                      2. Yì 役 tends to focus on the hard labour involved.

                      3. Lǔ 虜 focusses prototypically on the prisoner-origins of a slave.

                      4. Lì 隸 refers to slaves in an administrative bureaucratic way, and prototypically these menial workers are in public employment, being thus of higher status than mere shepherds or stable-boys in the countryside.

                      5. Zānghuò 臧獲 is the standard exampe of the name of a slave.

                      Slavery and servant-hood not always easy to distinguish, and this is for very interesting social reasons. A scheme for the place of menials in the status system is systematised in a crucial ZUO Zhao 7 passage:

                      故王臣公，公臣大夫，大夫臣士，士臣皁，皁臣輿，輿臣隸，隸臣僚，僚臣僕，僕臣臺。

                      馬有圉，牛有牧，