Taxonomy of meanings for 死:　　

  • sǐ (OC: pliʔ MC: sɯi) 息姊切 上 廣韻：【説文曰澌也人所離也息姊切一 】
    • DIE
      • nabeventdeath, also abstract: the fact of dying; mode of dying
      • nabeventDeath
      • v[adN]nonreferentiala dead person; a person in the state after death (contrast CORPSE)
      • vadN死人"dead person": dead; deceased; who has died
      • vadNfigurativedead (as of ashes etc); death-like; indicative of death
      • vadNfigurativerelated to dying (死地: place where dying takes place)
      • vadVafter death to V
      • viactsacrifice/give one's life
      • vichangedie; be about to die
      • vifuturewill die (implicit future)
      • vistativebe dead
      • vpostadVuntil one's death, to death
      • vt(oN)die for the contextually determinate object
      • vt[oN]actchoose to die for one's cause FAYAN 21.1:或死或亡 "some chose death [for a cause],
      • vtoNdie for (a ruler etc); sacrifice one's life in the cause or service of N
      • vtoNcausativecause to die> lead into death
      • vtoNN=murdererdie at the hands of 未知鹿死誰手 "one does not know yet at whose hands the deer will die"
      • vtoNN=abstractdie for (an ideal etc); give one's life on an occasion that required this sacrifice
      • vtoNobject=occasiondie (on an occasion)
      • vtoNN=placedie at (a place)
      • vtoNsuicidecommit suicide for, sacrifice one's life for
      • vadNfuturedestined to die (or be executed); due to be executed
      • nab[.post-N](my) death
      • vtoNpermissivepermit to die
      • vtoNN=occasion/causedie in the course of (tasks for/service for the king etc); dies as a result of/in the process of (political disorder)
      • vt+prep+Npassivedie at the hands of N
      • viprocessbe in the process of dying
      • vtoNpassive請死 be killed, be put to death
      • nab(post-N)processone's death
      • vt(oN)fromdie from N (so as to leave N bereaved)
      • visubject=inanimate"die"
      • vtoNdie of N(disease, worry)CH
      • vadVin death (to have peace of mind etc)CH
      • vt＋prep＋N{PLACE}die in NCH
      • vieventapproach death, be close to death
      • vigeneraldie outCH
      • vadVrisking death, at great risk to their livesCH
      • vi.post-V{PASSIVE}殺死"be murdered": die by being V-edCH
      • nab(post-N)N's deathDS
      • vifigurativefade; witherDS
      • viperfectivehas diedDS
      • vtoNderivedpsychological: be prepared to die for a cause N CH
      • visuicidecommit suicideCH
      • vt(oN)commit suicide for the implicit reason NCH
      • nabpsychologicaldeciding to die, choosing to dieCH
      • vadNcausativee.g. 死病 "mortal illness" mortal, leading to deathCH
      • vialt. "to face the possibility of" PF
      • dead body: CORPSE
        • n[adN]corpse, a dead person
        • hence: COLD
          • vadNdead and cold (ashes)
      • stative:deathlike> UNCONSCIOUS
        • vadNunconscious
        • metaphorical: ORGASM
          • vichangereach orgasm
      • deserving death> GUILT
        • v[adN]nonreferentialsomeone guilty of death
        • vibe guilty of death, deserve deathCH
        • vadNdeserving deathTWH
        • exocentric: crime punishable by death> CRIME
          • nab.post-V{NUM}mortal crime
          • vadNdeserving of the death penalty
          • nabcrime deserving deathDS
          • nab{PRED}be a matter of death, be cases of the death penaltyCH
      • generalised> END
        • vichange
      • causative> KILL
        • vtoNcausativecause to die, put to death
        • vtoNpermissiveallow myself to die
        • vtoNcausativebe killed by ???
        • vadNwhich kills; which causes deathDS
        • vtoNpassiveget killedLZ
        • and reflexive> SUICIDE
          • vireflexivekill oneselfCH
          • vtoNcommit suicide to repay a debt of honour to NCH
          • esposed oneself to danger of death> RISK DEATH
            • vadNprepared to die (for a contextually determinate N), risking death
            • vt(oN)actrisk one's life; be prepared to die (for a contextually determinate N
            • vtoNbe prepared to die for; risk death for
            • mortal> DANGER
              • vadNdangerous to one's life; likely to lead to one's death; dangerous to one's life; designed for one's death
              • specifically:exposing onself or others to danger> FIGHT
                • vifight to the death
                • exocentric: adverbial, braving mortal danger> EFFORT
                  • vadVwith the utmost effort, German: unter Einsatz des Lebens
                  • metaphorical: INTENSELY
                    • vpostadVV to the degree of dying > post(ad)verbial intensifier (compare 殺／煞 in this function)

Additional information about 死

說文解字:

    Criteria
  • CORPSE

    1. The general dignified term for a dead body is shī 尸 / 屍 often in connection with burial.

    2. Piǎo 殍 refers specifically to the dead bodies of those who have starved and who lie unburied.

    3. Sǐ 死 refers to the dead body of a deceased person in a neutral way, not necessarily in connection with burial.

    4. Fá 伐 is a a standard OBI word for decapitated human victims, but this usage became obsolete.

  • FEAR

    1. The most general word for any kind of passing fear is probably jù 懼 and this word naturally links with yōu 憂 "worry", and this word refers to a momentary historical moment where that fear manifested itself ( 文王乃懼 "then King Wén got scared"). Jù sǐ 懼死 is momentary fear for one's life, whereas wèi sǐ 畏死 refers to a general state where one is too frightened to sacrifice one's life.

    2. Kǒng 恐 refers primarily to intense or overwhelming possibly passing state of fear, and the word differs from jù 懼 mainly in degree of intensity and in the managability of the danger faced.

    3. Wèi 畏 is typically a stable state of reasoned fear, typically relating those who are in authority (the etymologically related wēi 威 on which relation there is much word-play in texts like ZUO), or ghosts etc, but the word also has extended generalised uses, as in wèi sǐ 畏死 "be afraid to die".

    4. Jīng 驚 refers to the sudden onset of fear when someone is faced with an unexpected danger.

    5. Lì 栗 / 慄 and zhàn 戰 is to shiver with intense fear, and the physical expression of fear can be more prominent the inner feeling expressed through shivering.

    6. Qiè 怯 "chicken-livered and unlikely to undertake risky tasks" and nuò 懦 (ant. yǒng 勇 "courage, boldness") as well as dàn 憚 "unduly prone to feelings of fear" refer to being pusilanimousness or the lack or courage where courage is required.

    7. Bù 怖 "be in a current acute state of fear" has no weakened generalised uses.

    8. Sǒng 悚 / 聳 "be fretful, given to fear; get slightly frightened" refers to mild forms of (possibly superfluous or reprehensible) fear.

    9. Jì 悸 refers to symptoms of violent heart-beat caused by intense fear.

    NB: Pà 怕 is post-Buddhist (TANG).

  • SUICIDE

    1. The general term for suicide is zì shā 自殺, and 殺己 is hardly ever used for suicide.

    2. Zì cǎi 自裁 refers to suicide by cutting oneself in some way or other.

    3. Zì jìn 自盡 is politely periphrastic and refers to putting an end to one's life in any way.

    4. Zì wěn 自刎 refers to a dramatic act of cutting one's own throat.

    5. Zì jīng 自經 refers to suicide by strangling oneself.

    6. Zì chén 自沉 refers to suicide by drowning.

    7. Sǐ 死 is often used causatively and reflexively to refer to an act of suicide.

  • BIRTH

    [BASIC/MARGINAL]

    [FACT/PROCESS]

    [+FIG/LITERAL]

    [GENERAL/SPECIFIC]

    1. Shēng 生 (ant. sǐ 死 "die") is a colourless general word for the fact of being delivered of offspring or for engendering offspring, and the word also has many derived and related meanings.

    [FACT], [+FIG], [GENERAL]; [[COMMON+]]

    2. Chǎn 產 can focus on the physical process of birth alone, but the word can connote the act of rearing or even breeding. See REAR.

    [LITERAL], [PROCESS]; [[COMMON]]

    3. Zì 字 is a rare very archaic word referring to the production of offspring.

    [ARCHAIC], [LITERAL]; [[RARE]]

    4. Yù 育 is a rare fairly archaic word for giving birth to and rearing offspring.

    [ARCHAIC], [LITERAL], [PROCESS]

    5. Rǔ 乳 viewS the act of giving birth as immediately preceding and linked to the feeding of what one has given birth to.

    [LITERAL], [MARGINAL], [PROCESS]; [[RARE]]

    4. Sū 穌 "be born again" belongs to the realm of religious discourse.

    [SPECIFIC]; [[RARE]]

  • LIVE

    1. The current standard word for being alive is shēng 生 (ant. sǐ 死 "be dead").

    2. Cún 存 (ant. wáng 亡 ) and zài 在 (ant. mò 沒 / 歿 "go under") refer to continuing in the state of being alive, but the word also refers to continued existence in general.

    3. Huó 活 (ant. sǐ 死 ) specifically refers to the state of being alive when one might have been dead, and strongly connotes not only a failure to die but also the continued existence of life energy.

    4. Mìng 命 refers specifically to one's life-span and not to the content of one's life that might be described in a biography.

    5. Shēn 身 comes to refer to the life one conducts as in xíng shēn 行身 "conduct one's life" (Greek bios), and, and to one's lifespan as in zhōng shēn 終身 "all one's life".

    6. Shòu 壽 (yāo 夭 "short life ended by an unnaturally early death") refers specifically to a lifespan as long as it naturally can be and should be.

  • PERSIST

    1. The current general word for the persistence or continued existence of something is cún 存 (ant. wáng 亡 "cease to exist").

    2. Huó 活 "survive" (ant. sǐ 死 "die") refers specifically to survival of a living creature.

    3. Yí 遺 (ant. shī 失 "get lost") is used to refer to things that continue to exist or are handed down from earlier times.

  • DIE

    1. The dominant general word is sǐ 死 (ant. shēng 生 "be alive"), and this can refer to the death of plants as well as animals or men.

    2. Bēng 崩 refers to the death of an emperor.

    3. Hōng 薨 and cú 殂 / 徂 refers to the death of a senior official.

    4. Zú 卒 is specifically the death of a common citizen, but occasionally also used to refer to the death of senior persons like dukes.

    5. Piǎo 殍 and jǐn 殣 "(of common people) starve to death, die in the gutters" refer distinctly to the death of ordinary people.

    6. Mò 沒 / 歿 (ant. cún 存 "survive") and zhōng 終 are abstract elevated, polite words to use about the death of a significant person.

    7. Yì 殪 "get killed" is the result of violent action.

    8. Yāo (old: yǎo) 夭, yǎo 殀 and shāng 殤 (ant. shòu 壽 "long-lived") refer to an early and not just untimely death.

    9. Jí22 shì 即世 refers to the death of high-ranking personalities in the bureaucracy.

    10. Wáng 亡 "cease to be" is a polite and periphrastic way of referring to death.

    11. Xùn 殉 refers to the act of laying down one's life, dying for a cause.

    NB: The periphrastic vocabulary of Chinese referring to death is extraordinarily large. I have more than 900 terms - if modern locutions gēbēr sǐ 咯嘣兒死 "die" are included.

    Word relations
  • Result: (DIE)壓/SQUEEZE The current general word for the exercise of pressure downwards in any concrete or abstract sense is yā 壓, and the word is not a success verb.
  • Result: (DIE)枯 / 枯㱠/DRY Gǎo 槁 and kū 枯 (ant. rùn 潤 "lush") are common words referring specifically to dryness of trees and sometimes other plants.
  • Result: (DIE)溺/DROWN The current general word for seeking death by drowning or dying through drowning is nì 溺.
  • Result: (DIE)飢/HUNGRY The most common current and general word for insufficiency of food supplies is probably jī 飢 (ant. bǎo 飽 "have eaten enough"), and this word refers to any such insufficiency, temporary or lasting, serious or minor. Presumably, the word can also refer to insufficiency of food among animals.
  • Result: (DIE)餓/HUNGRY È 餓 refers to famine as a serious condition threatening the lives of the persons involved.
  • Result: (DIE)饑/HUNGRY Jī 饑 (NOT ANCIENTLY HOMOPHONOUS WITH 飢 in ancient Chinese), and the rarer jín 饉 as well as the very rare qiàn 歉 refer to insufficiency of food as a result of bad harvest.
  • Ant: (DIE)活/LIVE Huó 活 (ant. sǐ 死) specifically refers to the state of being alive when one might have been dead, and strongly connotes not only a failure to die but also the continued existence of life energy.
  • Ant: (DIE)生/LIVE The current standard word for being alive is shēng 生 (ant. sǐ 死 "be dead").
  • Object: (DIE)效/RISK
  • Object: (DIE)昧/RISK
  • Object: (DIE)臨/APPROACH Lín 臨 is often used in ways characteristic of the dignified court style, but the word also commonly refers to getting close to a place or time in a natural course of events. [ELEVATED!], [GENERAL]
  • Object: (DIE)輕 / 輕/DESPISE The most widely used general word for contempt is qīng 輕 (ant. zhòng 重 "rate as important"), and the word typically describes an attitude based on a critical judgment. See also UNIMPORTANT
  • Epithet: (DIE)夭/EARLY Yāo 夭 refers specifically to prematureness of death.
  • Contrast: (DIE)卒/DIE Zú 卒 is specifically the death of a common citizen, but also used to refer to the death of senior persons like dukes.
  • Contrast: (DIE)薨/DIE Hōng 薨 and cú 殂/徂 refers to the death of a senior official.
  • Contrast: (DIE)亡/DISAPPEAR The dominant word for ceasing to exist is wáng 亡 (and there is no early evidence for the reading wú 亡).
  • Contrast: (DIE)終/DIE
  • Assoc: (DIE)亡/DIE Wáng 亡 "cease to be" is a polite and periphrastic way of referring to death.