Additional information about 沛
說文解字:
- Criteria
- FLOW
1. The dominant standard word for the natural flow of water or any liquid is líú 流 (ant. zhì 滯 "be blocked").
2. Pèi 沛 is to flow abundantly and rapidly.
3. Màn 漫 is to overflow in all directions.
4. Yǎn 衍 and yǎn 演 are both occasionally (and originally!) used to refer to water flowing over long distances.
NB: There are many poetic words in this group which have rather low frequency. Poetically elaborated groups of this kind need a separate study which takes special note of rules of euphony in poetry in addition to semantic considerations.
- ABUNDANT
ABSTRACT/CONCRETE
ARTIFICIAL/NATURAL
HIGH-DEGREE/LOW-DEGREE
SPECIALISED/UNSPECIFIC
1. The general word for abundance of any kind, man-made or natural, concrete or abstract, is shèng 盛 (ant.*xī 稀 "sparse").
[GENERAL]
2. Fēng 豐 (ant.*qiàn 歉 "poor natural harvest") refers primarily to the natural abundance of some feature or resource, but in elevated archaic discourse the word may also refer to abundance of sacrifice and the like. NB: The rare fēng 丰 was not homophonous in ancient times, and the meaning emphasises beauty as well as abundance.
[NATURAL!]
3. Hòu 厚 (ant. báo 薄 "meagerly supplied with something") primarily refers to man-made or man-caused generous abundance, prototypically in contexts such as hospitality or exchange of presents.
[ARTIFICIAL]
4. Yōu 優 (ant.* liè 劣 "in short supply") refers to special (often commendable) abundance.
[HIGH DEGREE], [ABSTRACT!]
5. Ráng 穰 often refers specifically to abundance of harvest. See HARVEST.
[NATURAL], [SPECIFIC]
5. Pèi rán 沛然 typically refers to the abundance of a flow of things, prototypically rain.
7. Yáng 洋 typically refers specifically to abundance of water over a wide area, but the word is occasionally used in transferred senses to refer to wide-spread abundance. The image of water remains distantly present.
[NATURAL], [SPECIFIC]
8. Wò 渥 (ant. báo 薄 "not very abundant, poorly supplied with liquid or vital energy etc.") typically refers to an abundance of liquids or gases.
[NATURAL], SPECIFIC]
9. Duō 多 is the general word for a large number or a large amount of things. See MANY