Taxonomy of meanings for 辭:　　

Additional information about 辭

說文解字: 【辭】，訟也。 〔小徐本作「辭訟也。」〕 从 𤔔 𤔔 猶理辜也。 𤔔 理也。 〔小徐本作「從𤔔、辛。𤔔，猶理辜也。」無「𤔔，理也」三字。〕 【似玆切】 【𤔲】，籒文辭从司。

Criteria
• FAREWELL
  

  1. The current general word for taking leave and saying farewell is cí 辭.

  2. Bié 別 (ant. huì 會 "get together") is a rather colourless way of referring to the standard rituals of the farewell.

  3. Sòng 送 (ant. yíng 迎 "go out to welcome") refers standardly to following someone some symbolic part of his way, as a standard ritual of departure.

  4. Jiàn 餞 refers to the arrangement of a farewell wine party.

  5. Zǔ 祖 refers to the formal arrangement of the standard sacrifices to the spirits of the road on the occasion of a departure.

• WORD
  

  Note that 辭也 "This is a grammatical particle" is sometimes written 詞也, but never 字也. At this point, the classical Chinese commentators do make something like a distinction between character and word. The matter deserves detailed attention.

  1. On the relatively rare occasions when words rather than characters are referred to, the current general term to use is yán 言.

  Note that the definition of the word is notiously problematic for classical as well as for modern Chinese - as indeed it is for English. A typical illustration for the problem is a modern Chinese word like 合身 "fitting" which does invite categorisation as a word, but which is comfortably expanded into 合我的身 "fits my body", in which the grammatical relation between 合 and 身 remains the same, but where it becomes clear that the construction is not only syntactic but even syntactically productive. Cases of this kind are so many that one needs to find a systematic way of accounting for them in Chinese, and in this connection it is remarkable that in their very long history of reflection on their own language the Chinese never came anywhere near to inventing a notion of a "word". YANG QINGHUI 1995 gives a convenient but analytically unreliable survey of such phenomena for beginning students of modern Chinese.

• AGREE TO
  

  [ASCENDING/HORIZONTAL/DESCENDING]

  [EXPLICIT/IMPLICIT]

  [FORMAL/INFORMAL]

  [MENTAL/PRACTICAL]

  [REACTIVE/SPONTANEOUS]

  1. Nuò 諾 (ant. yǐ 已 "be unwilling") expresses a general agreement to do what is asked of one, and this is the most common word which can be used both by superiors and by inferiors when expressing agreement.

  [EXPLICIT], [FORMAL], [REACTIVE]

  2. Wéi 唯 (ant. fǒu 否 "refuse") expresses an unquestioning agreement directed at superiors to do what is asked of one.concerning a major undertaking by means of a mutual promise.

  [ASCENDING], [EXPLICIT], [FORMAL], [REACTIVE]

  3. Qī 期 refers to the entering into a typically non-hierarchical agreement concerning any form of common action by means of a mutual promise.

  [EXPLICIT], [HORIZONTAL], [INFORMAL], [SPONTANEOUS]

  4. Yuē 約 refers to the entering into a voluntary binding agreement of any kind between equals.

  [EXPLICIT], [FORMAL], [HORIZONTAL], [SPONTANEOUS]

  5. Kěn 肯 (ant. jù (ér bù shòu) 拒（而不受 ) "refuse to accede to a request") refers to a willingness to do what one might refuse to do.

  [IMPLICIT], [MENTAL]

  6. Cóng 從 "do as one is told" (ant. cí 辭 "refuse") can refer to an agreement by a superior to do as is being suggested by an inferior rather than the obeying itself. See OBEY

  [IMPLICIT], [PRACTICAL], [REACTIVE]

• SENTENCE
  

  1. Cí 辭 was probably used as a technical term for a proposition by Mohist logicians, but in general the term refers to the formulation of a sentence.

  2. Yán 言 refers to a public statement or a publicised saying.

• APOLOGISE
  

  NB: There is, so far, no sufficient basis to distinguish between the meanings of these words, which are rare in this meaning.

  1. Xiè 謝 is the standard word to use, but, surprisingly, the word is quite rare.

  2. Cí 辭 can perhaps be taken to emphasise the explanations made on the occasion of apologising, but examples are too few to be sure.

  3. Qǐng 請 emphasises, perhaps, the implicit request for the apology to be accepted, but examples are too few to be sure.

• YIELD
  

  1. The dominant general word referring to yielding politely to others or giving precedence to them is ràng 讓 (ant. líng 陵 "treat without proper respect").

  2. Qiān 謙 (ant. jiāo 驕 "arrogant in attitude" and ào 傲 "impolite and arrogant in action") refers to the general attitude or disposition towards giving precedence to others.

  3. Cí 辭 (ant. shòu 受 "accept") refers to declining politely an offer that has been made to one.

  4. Xiè 謝 (ant. shòu 受 "accept") refers to informally but politely declining something offered to one in private context.

  5. Shàn 禪 refers specifically to declining the high office of an emperor.

  NB: Lǐ 禮 "treat with proper yielding politeness" is marginal in this group.

• REFUSE
  

  1. The current general word for refusal to do what one is asked to do or invited to do is què 卻 (ant. yǔn 允 "agree gracefully", but only for the case when què 卻 has a subject of high status), verbalised refusal to do what one is invited to do is currently cí 辭 (ant. cóng 從 "follow, do as one is told").

  2. Jù 拒 (ant. chéng 承 "accept (a task)") refers to emphatic refusal, a decision to have nothing to do with something.

  3. Shì 釋 (ant. shòu 受 "accept (a task)") refers to an insistance not to do what one might be expected to undertake.

  4. Fú 弗 (ant. yù 欲 "be willing to") regularly refers to what the agent "will not do" or "refuses to do", as an emphatic negation.

  5. Chì 斥 (ant. fèng 奉 "accept (a task)") is occasionally used to refer to a refusal to accede to a request or demand.

• SPEAK
  

  1. The most colourless and general way of referring to any act of saying attributed to any subject, no matter whether animate or inanimate, something is yuē 曰, and the verb introduces what poses as direct but can often be the summarising of such speech and even the summarising of the subject's opinion.

  2. Yán 言 is to speak up, propose, typically in public, and on one's own initiative, to maintain something, and the word can indroduce direct speech as well as occasionally very limited indirect speech.

  3. Yǔ 語 is to say something as part of typically informal conversation. Contrast yù 語 "tell, inform" in REPORT.

  4. Tán 談 refers to informal communicative talk, sometimes but not always with some pejorative connotation.

  5. Yún 云 is used of books as well as persons and tends to refer to what are typically construed as authoritative acts of saying, and the word often has to be taken figuratively as "run as follows". (Note the perfectly regular contrast 曰 / 云 in MOUZI.)

  6. Wèi 謂 is to say or predicate something of someone. See also MEAN.

  7. Cí 辭 is primarily an act of careful articulation and rhetorical formulation.

  8. Dào 道 "speak of with authority, speak of adequately; quote" often involves quotation or especially serious discussion of important points, or the relating of important evidence.

  9. Jǔ 舉 is a technical term referring to the bringing up of a subject, and the subject of this verb is always a person, not a text.

  10. Chēng 稱 refers in a rather formal historian's style to the making of statements and the applying of terminology. See also NAME.

Word relations
• Ant: (REFUSE)受/ACCEPT The general word for accepting something offered to one is shòu 受, but the distinction with the passive "receive" is not made explicit. >>NEUTRAL
• Epithet: (ELOQUENT)言/SPEAK Yán 言 is to speak up, propose, typically in public, and on one's own initiative, to maintain something, and the word can indroduce direct speech as well as occasionally very limited indirect speech.
• Epithet: (PROSE)虛/EMPTY The most geneal word is xū 虛 (ant. shí 實 "substantial and full") which can refer both to physical emptiness of a space and to abstract emptiness or tenuousness as a philosophical concept. 1 Attribution
• Epithet: (PROSE)淫/UNRESTRAINED Yín 淫 can come to refer to extravagance as a symptom of general indulgence. 1 Attribution
• Epithet: (PROSE)辯 / 辨/ELOQUENT The current general term for articulate rhetorical ability is biàn 辯 (ant. nè 訥 "be tongue-tied"). 1 Attribution
• Contrast: (ELOQUENT)辯 / 辨/ELOQUENT The current general term for articulate rhetorical ability is biàn 辯 (ant. nè 訥 "be tongue-tied"). 1 Attribution
• Contrast: (PROSE)文/PROSE
• Contrast: (PROSE)言/SPEAK Yán 言 is to speak up, propose, typically in public, and on one's own initiative, to maintain something, and the word can indroduce direct speech as well as occasionally very limited indirect speech.
• Contrast: (PROSE)語/SPEAK Yǔ 語 is to say something as part of typically informal conversation. Contrast yù 語 "tell, inform" in REPORT.
• Assoc: (REFUSE)卻/REFUSE The current general word for refusal to do what one is asked to do or invited to do is què 卻 (ant. yǔn 允 "agree gracefully", but only for the case when què 卻 has a subject of high status), verbalised refusal to do what one is invited to do is currently cí 辭 (ant. cóng 從 "follow, do as one is told"). 1 Attribution
• Assoc: (SPEAK)聲/VOICE
• Assoc: (YIELD)讓/YIELD The dominant general word referring to yielding politely to others or giving precedence to them is ràng 讓 (ant. líng 陵 "treat without proper respect"). 1 Attribution
• Assoc: (YIELD)讓/YIELD The dominant general word referring to yielding politely to others or giving precedence to them is ràng 讓 (ant. líng 陵 "treat without proper respect").
• Oppos: (PROSE)事/ACT Shì 事 (ant.* xián 閒 "take it easy") primarily focusses on action as part of the fulfilment of a duty imposed by one's station in life or a task one has set oneself. [PRESCRIBED], [PUBLIC!], [RESPONSIBLE] 1 Attribution