Taxonomy of meanings for 齒:
- 齒 chǐ (OC: khljɯʔ MC: tɕʰɨ) 昌里切 上 廣韻：【齒録也年也又牙齒昌里切二 】
- TOOTH
- n(normally human or equine etc) front teeth, tooth
- nadVinstrumentwith the teeth
- modern, linguistic: dental>SOUND
- TOOTH
Additional information about 齒
說文解字: 【齒】，口齗骨也。象口齒之形，止聲。凡齒之屬皆从齒。 【昌里切】 【𠚒】，古文齒字。
- Criteria
- AGE
[ARCHAIC/CURRENT]
[BASIC/MARGINAL]
[BRIEF/LONG]
[COMMON/RARE]
[POETIC/PROSAIC]
[QUANTIFIED/UNQUANTIFIED
[ELEVATED], [INFORMAL]
1. Nián 年, basically an agricultural term, "year of one's life" refers to age specifically in terms of number year, and the focus is on this period as having a certain length.
[COMMON], [QUANTIFIED]
2. Suì 歲, basically an astronomical term, refers to the year as an astronomical unit and then to "number of years one has lived"; the refers to the unit by which years are counted and the length of time as such. A primary basis of the image in these words is plant life.
[BASIC], [FREQUENT], [QUANTIFIED]
3. Chǐ 齒 typically refers to the age of animals, but the word also has generalised meanings where it refers informally to the age or seniority of humans. The primary basis of the image for time is the fauna of teethed animals.
[ARCHAIC]; [[RARE]]
4. Shòu 壽 refers to venerable high age as something desirable rather than as connoting decrepitude.
[ELEVATED], [LONG]
5. Chūn qiū 春秋 refers periphrastically, in polite and flowery speech, to years of age. See YEAR.
[ELEVATED], [POETIC], [QUANTIFIED]
- TOOTH
1. Chǐ 齒 refers to the visible front teeth, thus when one smiles one shows one's chǐ 齒, xiàn chǐ 見齒, and only if one were vampire-like would one show any yá 牙. Chǐ 齒 does not typically refer to the teeth as weapons of aggressive action. The teeth by which one judges age are always chǐ 齒, and the teeth with which one commonly chews tend quite as often to be chǐ 齒. The front teeth that get cold when the lips are gone, are chǐ 齒 in classical Chinese, and they are not seen in that common saying as aggressive weapons. The admirable white teeth of a lady are the chǐ 齒, only in the case of vampires yá 牙. We have goǔ yá 狗牙 but mǎ chí 馬齒. One grinds one's chǐ 齒, 切齒, not one's yá 牙. The first teeth of a child are never yá 牙 and regularly chǐ 齒, and similarly for the teeth that an old man loses, when chǐ duò 齒墮 "the teeth fall out". Interestingly, the elephant has chǐ 齒, never yá 牙, presumably because these tusks were taken to be a threat to his own survival, not to man.
2. Yá 牙 can occasionally generally refer to teeth, even the exquisite teeth of a woman, but the word typically refers to the large side teeth or fangs of an animal with which it bites, and which are seen as a threat. The threatening teeth of an animal, the teeth with which a rat attacks one's home, are yá 牙. Thus one speaks of the zhuǎ yá 爪牙 "the claws and fangs" as metaphors for weapons. Theses are sharp like fangs, and as such they lend themselves to metaphorical use to indicate dented patterns in ornaments.
- Word relations
- Epithet: (TOOTH)皓/WHITE
Hào 皓 (ant. xuán 玄 and zào 皂 "dark and black") refers to gleaming whiteness. - Assoc: (AGE)年/AGE
Nián 年 , basically an agricultural term, "year of one's life" refers to age specifically in terms of number year, and the focus is on this period as having a certain length. [COMMON], [QUANTIFIED] - Assoc: (IVORY)角/HORN
The current general term refering to a horn is jiǎo 角. - Assoc: (TOOTH)牙/TOOTH
Yá 牙 can occasionally generally refer to teeth, even the exquisite teeth of a woman, but the word typically refers to the large side teeth or fangs of an animal with which it bites, and which are seen as a threat. The threatening teeth of an animal, the teeth with which a rat attacks one's home, are yá 牙. Thus one speaks of the zhuǎ yá 爪牙"the claws and fangs" as metaphors for weapons. Theses are sharp like fangs, and as such they lend themselves to metaphorical use to indicated dented patterns in ornaments. - Oppos: (TOOTH)唇 / 脣/LIP
The standard word for the lips is chún 唇／脣. - Oppos: (TOOTH)舌/TONGUE
The current standard word for the tongue of humans or animals is shé 舌.