Taxonomy of meanings for 改:  

  • 改 gǎi (OC: klɯɯʔ MC: kəi) 古亥切 上 廣韻:【更也又姓秦有大夫改産古亥切三 】
    • IMPROVE
      • vadVby way of trying to make better; in an improved way
      • viactchange to the better, try to make amends, change one's ways; mend one's ways
      • vt(oN)mend; make improvements on the contextually determinate object
      • vt+prep+Ntry to mend; try to make improvements to
      • vtoNmend; improve on; introduce changes to; change (something) for the better; correct; adjust
      • vtoNconativetry to make better, try to mend
      • vtoNpassivebe changed for something better; be improved; be mended
      • causative>CORRECT
          • generalised>CHANGE
            • vichangechange
            • vt+prep+Nmake changes to (with the purpose of improving it)
            • vtoNchange; change and improve; change and bring under control
            • vtoNnegativemake arbitrary or wanton changes to
            • vtoNpassivebe changed (deliberately, in an effort to improve things)
            • vtoNreflexive.自change oneself
            • vttoN.+V[0]change so as to V
            • vadVby way of making a change
            • turn around>TURN BACK
              • vtoNturn round (carts)
            • radical>REPLACE
                • grammaticalised>AGAIN
                    • incremental>MORE
                      • vadVadverb of degree: more V; proceed further with Ving

          Additional information about 改

          說文解字:

            Criteria
          • IMPROVE

            1. The standard word for changing something for the better is gǎi 改.

            2. Fù 復 is to improve something so as to restore it to its original shape.

          • BURY

            1. Mái 埋 is the very general word for concrete interment, the placing of any object in the ground by digging a whole for it.

            2. The general word for human burial and funeral arrangements is zàng 葬. For the ritual aspects of funeral practice the standard word is sāng 喪. See MOURNING

            3. Bìn 殯 is a formal ritual term referring to the placing of a dead person in a coffin.

            4. Shōu 收 is a formal ritual term for preparing a dead person for formal burial.

            5. Yì 瘞 is a formal ritual term sometimes referring to preliminary or informal burial, but more regularly to the sacrificial burial of gifts for the deceased.

            6. Kēng 坑 is the burying of one or more persons alive, as punishment, or as an emergency burial of large numbers of persons. See EXECUTE

            7. Fù 祔 refers in a formal and technical way to the current practice of burying a person in the same grave as someone else, and to the ritual of placing the name tablet of the deceased next to that of someone with whom he was to be ritual associated.

            8. Gǎi zàng 改葬 refers to ritual reburial.

            9. Sì 肂 is a rare technical term for "preliminary burial".

            10. Biǎn 窆 is a rare technical term for "lower into the grave".

            11. Diàn 奠 refers to the sacrifice before the enterment of the body. See SACRIFICE

          • CHANGE

            1. The most current general words for objective and typically abrupt change are biàn 變 "change FROM one's original state to become something different" (ant. héng 恆 "remain constant").

            2. Huà 化 (ant. cháng 常 "remain constant") refers to irreversible change INTO a fundamentally new state, while retaining one's identity".

            3. Gǎi 改 refers to a deliberate change brought about at a certain point in time, typically in order to improve a situation. See IMPROVE

            4. Gēng 更 is an act of deliberately changing something, typically by replacing it by an improved version of the same kind of thing in order to insure continuity.

            5. Gé 革 (ant. yīn 因 "continue the tradition") refers to a typically unlicenced act of replacing the old by something new.

            6. Yì 易 refers prototypically to a change construed as brought about by a process of interchange and (often mutual) replacement.

            7. Dòng 動 refers to change construed as the moving from a previous stable state.

            8. Xǐ 徙 refers to making the object moved unstable.

            9. Yí 移 refers to a change in a current situation so as to effect a certain development in a desired direction.

            10. Yú 渝 is to change a current situation or an object, generally to the worse, and the word is remarkably often negated.

            11. Qiān 遷 (ant. 滯 "stay put in one place, unable to move") refers typically to change of one's current condition brought about by oneself.

            12. Fǎn 反 refers to a change resulting in the reverting to one's original state. See RETURN vt.fig

            13. Zhuǎn 轉 refers to change typically construed as part of a cycle of changes.

            Word relations
          • Contrast: (IMPROVE)徙/CHANGE Xǐ 徙 refers to making the object moved unstable.
          • Contrast: (CHANGE)易/CHANGE Yì 易 refers prototypically to a change construed as brought about by a process of interchange and (often mutual) replacement.
          • Contrast: (CHANGE)更/CHANGE Gēng 更 is an act of deliberately changing something, typically by replacing it by an improved version of the same kind of thing in order to insure continuity.
          • Contrast: (CHANGE)變/CHANGE The most current general words for objective and typically abrupt change are biàn 變 "change from one's original state to become something different" (ant. héng �� "remain constant").
          • Assoc: (IMPROVE)更/CHANGE Gēng 更 is an act of deliberately changing something, typically by replacing it by an improved version of the same kind of thing in order to insure continuity.
          • Synon: (CHANGE)更/CHANGE Gēng 更 is an act of deliberately changing something, typically by replacing it by an improved version of the same kind of thing in order to insure continuity.
          • Relat: (IMPROVE)過/MISTAKE