Taxonomy of meanings for 爛:  

  • 爛 làn (OC: ɡ-raans MC: lɑn) 郎旰切 去 廣韻:【火熟又明也郎旰切七 】
    • BURN
        • feature>SHINE
            • feature>BRIGHT
              • vivery bright[to sparkle]
          • causative>COOK
            • result>ROTTEN
              • vibe rotten or putrid
              • vichangeget rotten
              • vtoNcausativecause to become rotten
              • vadNrotten (meat)
              • VPiresultativebe completely rotten (as of meat)
              • vtoNcausativecause somebody to be rotten > destroy

          Additional information about 爛

          說文解字:

            Criteria
          • BRIGHT

            1. 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. Liàng 亮 "bright" (ant. yōu 幽 "dark and shady"), càn 燦 and làn 爛 are primarily optical and rather prosaic terms to use.

            3. Zhāo 昭 "resplendent" (ant. míng 冥 "dark"), gěng 耿 "brilliant", hào 皓 "shining bright", yè 燁, and hè 赫 "luminous" is a highly charged ritually high-flown word that belongs to court language, often with metaphorical force.

            4. Yáng 陽 "bright" (ant. yīn 陰 "dark") is simply the opposite of dark and does not connote any high degree of luminosity.

            5. Lǎng 朗 is an elevated word used to refer to things resplendent and bright.

            6. Hào 顥 and qíng 晴 "bright" refers to the brightness of the sky.

            7. Yàn 宴/曣 refers specifically to the brightness of the sky.

            8. Guāng 光 refers generally to light or even resplendence. See LIGHT

            For causative uses see ILLUMINATE.

            For figurative uses see ILLUSTRIOUS

          • ROTTEN

            1. The current general word for rottenness is fǔ 腐 (ant. xiān 鮮 "still fresh").

            2. Xiǔ 朽 (ant. xīn 新 "fresh") typically refers to the rottenness of trees or bones.

            3. Mí 糜 (ant. jiān 堅 "firm and unrotten") and the Han words làn 爛 emphasise the unretrievable state of complete rottenness.

            4. Bài 敗 (ant. gù 固 "firm and unimpaired") focusses on radical or essential changes brought about by the rotting process.

            5. Něi 餒 (ant. xiān 鮮 "still very fresh") refers specifically to the rottenness of fish.