Taxonomy of meanings for 終:　　

  • zhōng (OC: tjuŋ MC: tɕiuŋ) 職戎切 平 廣韻：【極也窮也竟也又姓漢有濟南終軍又漢複姓二氏東觀漢記有終利恭何氏姓苑云今下邳人也左傳殷人七族有終葵氏職 】
    • END
      • nabdimensionthe end; successful conclusion
      • nadVtimeto the very end; in the end
      • vadNfinal, ultimate
      • vicome to an end, finish; bring things to a close
      • vicolloquialbe finished, have had it
      • vt[0]oN.postadVuntil the end of N
      • vt+prep+Nend up at (a stage of V-ing)
      • vtoNget to the end of (one's natural lifespan etc); stay to the end of
      • vtoNprocesslast to the end of; stay to the end of
      • vtoNcausativecause to finish
      • vt prep Vend up with V-ingLZ
      • v-p.adVto the very endCH
      • n(post-N)end of NCH
      • nadSin the endCH
      • nadVtimeafter allCS
      • viactspend the rest of one's lifeCH
      • perfective:finish one's utterance> SPEAK
        • vt[oN]finish one's speech, finish one's utteranceCH
      • finish one's life> DIE
        • vichangedie
        • vt prep N{PLACE}die in the place NCH
        • nabend> deathCH
        • n(post-N.)adVN=subjectuntil N's deathDS
        • causative> DESTROY
          • vtoNOBI: put an end to, destroy
      • action:carry out to the end> EXHAUST
        • vtoNfigurativeget to the complete fruition of, enjoy all ofCH
        • vtoNfigurativeget to the complete fruition of, enjoy all ofCH
        • resultative> COMPLETE
          • vibe complete
          • abstract> WHOLE
            • nadNthe whole (day) 終朝"after the whole morning, by the end of the morning"
            • specific, temporal> YEAR
              • ncycle of twelve years
          • active, perfective> ACHIEVE
            • vtoNachieve completely; achieve completely the service of; achieve completely the service to
          • grammaticalised: having finished, then also> MOREOVER
            • vadV+Vrare, SHI: on the one hand (and on the other...) 終 。。。且
      • in the end, en fin de compte> CERTAIN
        • nadVultimately
      • to the end> ENDURING
        • nadV{NEG}throughout; until the end, forever; until the end of one's life
        • vilast to the end of one's life

    Additional information about 終

    說文解字: 【終】，絿絲也。从糸、冬聲。 【職戎切】 【𠂂(𠔾)】，古文終。

      Criteria
    • 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.

    • BEGIN

      [ARCHAIC/CURRENT]

      [[COMMON/RARE]]

      [ELEVATED/VULGAR]

      [FORMAL/INFORMAL]

      1. Shǐ 始 (ant. zhōng 終 "bring to an end; come to an end" and chéng 成 "bring to a successful end, complete") refers quite generally to the initiating of any action. But see also ARISE

      [GENERAL]

      2. Zào 造 (all ant. jì 繼 "continue" and chéng 承 "continue") can come to refer to the beginning of an action.

      [ARCHAIC]; [[RARE]]

      3. Chū 初 (ant. mò 末 "end") is purely chronological and refers to the early stage of something that persists, without indicating any lasting influence of that early stage on later developments. See FIRST

      4. Qǐ 起 is sometimes used in a rather formal way for getting underway with a major activity.

      [FORMAL]

      5. Qǐ 啟 typically refers to a deliberate act of initiation, by Heaven as well as by man, and the word generally belongs to the dignified style of historians or rhetoricians.

      [ELEVATED], [FORMAL]

      6. Zhāo 肇 is an elevated and archaic word referring to the initiation of rituals and the like.

      [ELEVATED]; [[RARE]]

    • ORIGINALLY

      1. The general word is běn 本 (ant. jìng 竟 "in the end") and refers to the crucial and formative early stage in any development.

      2. Chū 初 (ant. jīn 今 "nowadays") is purely chronological and does not imply any formative influence of the beginning stage.

      3. Shǐ 始 "originally" (ant. zhōng 終 "in the end") does imply a strict continuity of development from the beginnings to later stages.

      4. Sù 素 "primordially" (ant. jīn 今 "nowadays") emphasises the primordial and essential purity of the earliest phase of something.

    • 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.

    • PRECEDE

      1. The current word for being first or coming first in time, or for being first in the order of importance, is xiān 先 (ant. hòu 後 "later").

      2. Chū 初 (ant. zú 卒 "finally" and zhōng 終 "end") refers to the very first stage in a historical development, and the word never has any abstract reference to an order of importance. See also BEGIN

      3. Shǒu 首 (ant. mò 末 "final point"(and sometimes in nominal usages wěi 尾 "tail end")) sometimes refers to the first person to do something important.

    • END

      1. The common noun referring to the final stage or final moment in a process is zhōng 終 (ant. shǐ 始 "beginning").

      2. Bì 畢 refers to finishing or discontinuing an action after it has achieved its aim or comes to a natural end. See also COMPLETE which is frustratingly difficult to distinguish in practice from END.

      3. Zú 卒 (ant. chū 初 "beginning") typically refers to a definitive and often abrupt end to a process which has lasted some time, but not for all the preceding time.

      4. Occasionally jìn 盡 "exhaust" is used to refer to the end of a period.

      Word relations
    • Ant: (END)初/BEGIN Chū 初 (ant. mò 末 "end") is purely chronological and refers to the early stage of something that persists, without indicating any lasting influence of that early stage on later developments. See FIRST
    • Ant: (END)始/BEGIN The general word for something occurring for the crucial and influential first time or initiating anything, in particular any development, is shǐ 始 (ant. zhōng 終"bring to an end; come to an end" and chéng 成 "bring to a successful end, complete").
    • Contrast: (DIE)死/DIE 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.
    • Synon: (END)盡/END
    • Synon: (END)竟/END