Taxonomy of meanings for 頓:　　

Additional information about 頓

說文解字: 【頓】，下首也。从頁、屯聲。 【都困切】

Criteria
• BOW DOWN
  

  1. The general word for all kinds of bowing recognised as ritually correct is bài 拜, which involves kneeling on the ground, moving one's head against one's hands joined in the obligatory Confucian manner, and bowing one's torso forward, and this word is often rich in further semantic nuances. It is important to realise that even newly appointed kings bowed in the bài 拜 fashion. By Han times, this kind of bowing often was accompanied by one's pronouncing one's personal name. Standardly, one 再拜 "bowed twice" in ancient China.

  [GENERAL]; [[COMMON+]]

  2. Qǐ 稽 and mostly qǐ shǒu 稽首 refers to the profoundest bow which involves hitting the ground with one's forehead and remaining in that position.

  [ASCENDING++], [ELEVATED], [FORMAL]

  3. Dùn shǒu 頓首 involves knocking the ground and lifting one's head again, thus being not quite as extreme as qǐ shǒu 稽首.

  [ASCENDING+], [ELEVATED], [FORMAL]

  4. Yī 揖 refers to a polite bow with one's hands held against one's chest.

  [HORIZONTAL], [POLITE]

  5. Gǒng 拱 refers to a polite bow where the hands, which are held together in the Confucian (and not the Buddhist) fashion, are removed some distance from the chest and shaken only mildly, or, as in the chuí gǒng 垂拱 variety, in front of one's stomach, typically as a sign of dignified and polite inactivity.

  [ELEVATED], [POLITE]

  6. Fǔ 俯 / 俛 refers to a general deep bowing down from a predominantly physical point of view, without any particular emphasis on the semantics of the bowing, and the action does not involve kneeling or hitting the ground with one's forehead.

  [ELEVATED]; [[CURRENT]]

  7. Yǔ 傴 is to bow deeply so as to reach a position like that of a hunchback, and to remain in that position for a considerable time.

  [ARCHAIC], [FORMAL]; [[RARE]]

  8. Lóu 僂 is to bow slightly so as to reach a position like that of a mildly hunchbacked person, and to remain in that position for a considerable time.

  [ARCHAIC], [FORMAL]; [[RARE]]

  9. Fú 伏 refers to the sustained polite bowing position in which, for example, polite deliberation by superiors had to be seen to proceed in the Han court, and this meaning has to be distinguished from the meaning "to crouch".

  [ASCENDING], [POLITE]

  10. Shì 式 (often written 軾 ) refers to the polite ritual act of stopping one's cart and leaning politely over the railings of that cart to greet someone.

  [ARCHAIC], [ELEVATED], [FORMAL]

• THEREUPON
  

  [BRIEF/LONG]

  [DRAMATIC/UNDRAMATIC]

  [EMPHATIC/UNEMPHATIC]

  [NOUN/VERB/PARTICLE/CLAUSE]

  1. The current general word for "thereupon" is yú shì 於是 "at that point, then, thereupon" with its expanded variant yú shì hū 於是乎, but these expressions do not allow for any long delay.

  2. Yǒu jiān 有間 (ant.* xuǎn 旋／還 "without delay", dùn 頓 "immediately, without hesitation") refers to a brief interval of a certain time which ensues, and after which something new happens in the narrative sequence.

  [BRIEF], [UNDRAMATIC], [UNEMPHATIC]; [CLAUSE]

  3. Yǒu qǐng 有頃 (ant. è ér 俄而 "without delay", lì 立 "without delay") is "after a while" and the interval is perhaps a little longer than in yǒu jiān 有間, and this expression also refers to a plain narrative sequence.

  [BRIEF], [UNDRAMATIC], [UNEMPHATIC]; [CLAUSE]

  4. Yǐ ér 已而 (ant. qián cǐ 前此 "before this point in time") refers with emphasis to a longer than expected interval after a certain time.

  [LONG], [DRAMATIC], [EMPHATIC]; [PARTICLE]

  5. Jū 居 (as in jū sān yuè 居三月 "after three months") and the rarer chǔ 處 serve simply to indicate a specified interval after a certain time after which something else happens.

  [VERB], [UNDRAMATIC], [UNEMPHATIC]

  6. Jì 既 (ant. wèi jí 未及 "before even...") focusses dramatically on the fact that an action B does not occur before the action A is completed.

  [BRIEF], [DRAMATIC], [EMPHATIC]; [PARTICLE]

  7. Rán hòu 然後 (ant. yǐ qián 以前 "before") emphasises that an event occurs no sooner than after a certain event or space of time. See ONLY THEN.

  [BRIEF], [DRAMATIC], [EMPHATIC]; [PARTICLE]

  8. Ér hòu 而後 (ant. yǐ qián 以前 "before") emphasises that an event occurs no sooner than after a certain event or space of time. See ONLY THEN.

  [BRIEF], [EMPHATIC]; [PARTICLE]

  9. Xū yú 須臾 stresses that an event occurred immediately after another.

  [BRIEF+]; [nadS]

  10. Hòu 後 (ant. qián 前 "before") is a general word indicating that something happens later than something else.

Word relations
• Ant: (IMMEDIATELY)漸/GRADUALLY The standard word for something happening gradually rather than abruptly is jiàn 漸. 1 Attribution
• Epithet: (BLUNT)兵/WEAPON Bīng 兵 refers to warfare as a military practice rather than as a political means to achieve ends, and it is significant that the word has no obvious antonym.