Taxonomy of meanings for 直:　　

Additional information about 直

說文解字:

Criteria
• TWIST
  

  1. The current general word for something being bent is qū 曲 (ant. zhí 直 "make straight").

  2. Qū 屈 / 詘 (all ant. shēn 伸 "stretch out") refers specifically to the bending of the body, mostly when bowing politely.

  3. Náo 撓 (ant. zhèng 正 "straighten out")typically focusses on the act and impact of bending.

  4. Wǎng 枉 (ant. zhèng 正 "straight and unwarped") refers to bending as distortion. The word is predominantly transferred in meaning and prototypically refers to the bending of the law.

  5. Wān 彎 (ant.zhí 直 "keep straight") has rather limited uses in pre-Buddhist Chinese, referring to the bending of a bow.

• STRAIGHT
  

  1. The current general word for something concrete or abstract being straight in any abstract or concrete way is zhí 直 (ant. wān 彎 "bent")

  2. Zhèng 正 (ant. qǔ 曲 "bent") refers to straightness as the desirable state of something.

  3. Duān 端 (ant. xié 斜 "slanted") and zhēn 貞 (ant. xié 邪 "morally warped") refer to straightness and non-crookedness, often as a property of abstract things.

  4. Gěng 鯁 (ant. qū 屈 "bent") is a rare word referring to straightness in speech or straightness in small objects.

• SECRET
  

  1. The current general word for something being kept secret from the general public, but it remaining accessible to an inner circle, is mì 密 (ant. míng 明 "openly, for everyone to see").

  2. Yǐn 隱 (ant. xiǎn 顯 "manifestly, demonstratively") refers primarily to hiding something or being hidden from everyone except the person who is hiding it.

  3. Yīn 陰 (ant. míng 明 "openly, for everyone to see") refers to covert actions hidden from a certain person group.

  4. Tōu 偷 (ant. zhèng 正 "regularly and openly") refers to unreglemented inappropriate secrecy.

  5. Sī 私 (ant. gōng 公 "openly") focusses on the aspect of discreetness in secrecy.

  6. Jiàn 間 (ant. zhèng 正 "straightforwardly") refers to the secretiveness of secret agents in espionage and the like.

  7. Wēi 微 (ant. zhí 直 "straightforwardly") typically refers to secrecy achieved through indirectness or subtlety in the form of communication.

  8. Àn 暗 / 闇 (ant. míng 明 "openly, for everyone to see") gains its nuance from the original meaning of darkness and focusses on the shadiness of secretive action.

• BEAUTIFUL
  

  [ABSOLUTE/GRADED]

  [ACOUSTIC/VISUAL]

  [ARTIFICIAL/NATURAL]

  [[COMMON/RARE]]

  [ELEVATED/VULGAR]

  [GENERAL/SPECIFIC]

  [HUMAN/NON-HUMAN]

  [POETIC/PROSAIC]

  1. The general word is měi 美 "handsome and admirable" (ant. è 惡 "ugly") which refers to anything concrete or abstract which is attractive or handsome in a dignified way, and the word often retains its primary culinary sense of "tasty".

  [GENERAL], [GRADED]; [[COMMON]]

  2. Lì 麗 (ant. sù 素 "unaodorned") is often restricted to physical objects, prototypically to clothes, and emphasises their balanced symmetric beauty, occasionally also - by analogy - the well-aligned symmetric beauty of mountains.

  [ELEVATED], [NON-HUMAN], [VISUAL!]

  3. Wén 文 (ant. zhì 質 "merely material") emphasises cultivated external as well as internal elegance as well as traditionalism.

  [ARTIFICIAL], [ELEVATED], [NON-HUMAN], [VISUAL!]

  4. Yǎ 雅 (ant. sú 俗 "vulgar") emphasises primarily external elevated elegance.

  [ACOUSTIC!], [ARTIFICIAL], [ELEVATED+], [NON-HUMAN]

  5. Hǎo 好 "comely, handsome" (ant. chǒu 醜 "ugly") refers indiscriminately to men and women, but the word is sometimes more general and even abstract in application and refers to attractive words or attractive moral qualities.

  [HUMAN!], [NATURAL], [VISUAL]

  6. Xiù 秀 "of vigorous and imposing beauty" focusses on flourishing and flamboyant beauty in analogy with that of flowers.

  [ELEVATED], [NATURAL], [NON-HUMAN], [POETIC], [VISUAL]; [[RARE]]

  7. Huá 華 "of striking and colourful beauty" (ant. sú 俗 "vulgar") focusses on flourishing and flamboyant superficial or only apparent beauty, on the analogy analogy with that of flowers.

  [ARTIFICIAL], [ELEVATED], NON-HUMAN], [SUPERFICIAL], [VISUAL]

  8. Zhuàng 壯 "stately" (ant. ruò 弱 "weak and unsightly") is virile beauty associated with strength and vigour. See STRONG

  [NATURAL], [MARGINAL], [POETIC]; [[RARE]]

  9. Jiā 佳 "of outstanding beauty" (NB: liè 劣 "unremarkable" is the ant. of jiā 佳 "outstanding", and not in the meaning of "outstandingly beautiful") emphasises comparative beauty compared to others in the same group.

  [GRADED], [ELEVATED], [NATURAL], [POETIC]

  10. Dū 都 "urbane and exquisitely beautiful" (ant. bì 鄙 "rustic and inelegant") is a highly poetic word that can only be used in elevated prose.

  [ARCHAIC], [ELEVATED], [POETIC], [VISUAL]; [[RARE]]

  11. Yán 妍 "attractive and exquisite (of humans as well as human products)" (ant. chì 蚩 "unattractive") refers to elaborate beauty. See SEXY.

  [ARCHAIC], [ELEVATED], [HUMAN], [POETIC]; [[RARE]]

  12. Xiū 脩 / 修 "refined moral beauty" refers to moral as well as physical beauty, thus coming close the Greek kalokagathia, but never approaching the latter in importance as a cultural keyword.

  <div>[ELEVATED], [ARTIFICIAL]; [[RARE]]</div><div><br></div><div>吳蓬，東方審美詞彙集萃，上海文藝出版社，2002 lists the following rough definitions of a variety of terms of aesthetic appreciation by the artist and scholar Wu Peng. Many of these terms express conventional appreciative flattery only. This list does provide one not particularly well-known artist's subjective readings of some basic terms of traditional Chinese aesthetic approbation.</div><div>勃：富有生机之突起。<br>苍：浓的，毛的，老练的。<br>沉：沉着不浮，有重量感。<br>冲：调成和淡之意向。<br>饬：整顿。<br>粗：大而不笨者。<br>淳：清，往往易薄，然而淳是清中滋润之厚。<br>醇：与淳略同，这醇是提炼后的滋润之厚。<br>绰：与"约"字合用，即舒而不纵之意。<br>澹：平静而有幽淡之趣。<br>淡：与浓艳相对。<br>宕：放荡不拘。<br>跌：往往与"宕"字合用，即是起伏明显之状。<br>端：方正而不出偏，有稳实感。<br>敦：很实在的，结实的厚。<br>繁：众而密，有生气。<br>方：与平正同义。<br>丰：饱满而充足。<br>风：审美中之"风"指的是一种气韵格调。<br>飞：大幅度的流动。<br>刚：属于阳性的，有正力的，与柔软相对。</div><div>高：俯视一切的、超然得不一般。<br>工：规矩，不潦草。<br>孤：自我独立。<br>古：旧气，更有历史的抗怀千载之迹象。<br>骨：内在的架子。<br>犷：是跟"雄悍"接近，在粗中发展开来。<br>瑰：不单调的美。<br>乖：不和顺。<br>憨：近于拙朴而敦实。<br>酣：厚润四溢。<br>豪：激动向上之貌，有气魄。<br>宏：大而有气度。<br>厚：有沉积的饱和。<br>华：明亮而艳丽。<br>环：长久圆融之境。<br>荒：与"枯简"接近，不修饰。<br>豁：与开朗接近，然比开朗明显。<br>恢：宽广有余。<br>浑：团然一气之象，有朦胧感。<br>简：经过一番整修的减少。<br>娇：美得可爱。<br>警：审美中用此警字，往往指敏锐、颖达。<br></div><div>劲：能察觉的力。<br>精：很到位。<br>隽：精致而具内涵之美。<br>娟：秀而婉丽。<br>崛：高起而突出。<br>俊：人材杰曲之美。<br>峻：山高而陡。在书画中是浓而锋利之用笔。<br>空：有灵气之空白。<br>枯：干而毛，生的萎缩，然亦是力的显露。<br>宽：大度而畅朗。<br>旷：广阔而空灵。<br>辣：是枯毛爽直的老笔触。<br>朗：明亮而豁然。<br>琅：圆而光润。<br>伦：是同类之意，带有文明意念。<br>冷：跟"淡"与"静”接近，与浓烈相对。<br>炼：精到而有功力。<br>淋：与"漓”往往合用，是无拘束的洒落。<br>流：明显的动感。<br>迈：阔而放的超势。<br>莽：宽广而繁密的，朴直奔放的。<br>袤：与"古"字合用，即悠长久远之趣。<br>茂：有生气的繁密。<br>媚：柔美之趣。<br>宓：安而静。<br>明：清晰有亮度。<br>凝：浓重而不流动。<br>懦：毫无火气之柔软。<br>平：一般的，接近于稳。<br>朴：原始状态，形象较准。<br>嫖：与"姚"字合用，即动疾之状，而有气势。<br>奇：不一般。<br>气：生发的，迎面直扑而来的感觉。<br>清：是混的相对。其间透出一股朗气。<br>峭：山之直而险，在书画中是露锋的侧锋用笔，有明显露<br>尖状态。文章中之峭，是意气直逼。<br>遒：婉转有致，内力强劲。<br>虬：与遒类似，但动感较强，弯曲而有力度。<br>意：诚实谨慎。<br>儒：代表文人之书卷气。<br>洒：散落无拘束。<br>赡：富有与丰实。若与"疏”、"逸”组合即成"澹”或"安"之义。</div><div>骚：审美中之骚字，可引伸为风骚至风流感。<br>韶：美丽有光泽。<br>涩：在不爽快的进程中，流露出内力之美。<br>深：不是浮面的。<br>神：精与气合。高端的。<br>生：不成熟，但比成熟有味。<br>肆：任意放纵。<br>松：松是灵活自然，是一切技巧之本要。<br>瘦：与粗笨相对，在审美中的"瘦"，是指细长而精练。<br>疏：一种稀少秀朗之美。<br>肃：有立即静穆下来之势。<br>率：与潦草随便有别，爽快而直接。<br>邃：深远而悠久。<br>阅：通达之意。<br>给：与"宕"合用，是安详舒放之趣。<br>天:很自然，一片天箱之"天"。<br>恬：安静而坦然。<br>挺：直而有生气。<br>婉：柔和而曲折。<br>温：是一种暖调与缓和的综合。</div><div>巍：往往与"峨"合用，是高大厚实之趣。<br>洗：与"炼”合用，即是"精炼"之意，凡物之洁出于洗。<br>犀：与"利"字合用，即坚利。<br>熙：光明，和乐。<br>细：指细而不纤。<br>娴：文静而雅致。<br>闲：一种高雅的自由。<br>萧：疏少有致。<br>潇：散朗而润泽。<br>馨：很醇厚的香气。<br>篁："篁古”是悠远辽阔之意。<br>雄：强大，有力度，有霸气。<br>秀：灵巧的，有生气的，美好的显露。<br>虚：表象空，但并非真空。<br>雅：文气而不俗。<br>妍：鲜美而柔性。<br>严：认真，不马虎。<br>淹：一种浸沉与精深明达之境。<br>野：超脱、不规范。<br>冶：经过一番精致修饰。<br>逸：悠闲的起伏。</div><div>意：精神倾向。<br>莹：透明而幽亮。<br>雍：往往与“容"字合用，有和顺之貌。<br>幽：静而深。<br>腴：肥润而饱和。<br>郁：厚积而有生气。<br>纤：与"迥"字合用，即弯环回绕之趣。<br>遹：与"瑰"字合用，即纤迥美丽之趣。<br>渊：往往与"懿"合用，是深润而悠美之趣。<br>圆：接近于饱满润滑。<br>蕴：与"藉"合用，即内涵丰富。<br>韵：一种余味不尽之趣。<br>恣：放纵的，无拘束的。<br>滋：湿润感。<br>自：出于本性的流露。<br>质：本体的，实在的。<br>纵：放逸无拘之状。<br>拙：接近朴，形不准。<br>庄：端正之貌。<br>卓：与“荤"合用，是突出明显之状。<br></div><div><br></div><br>

• GOOD
  

  1. The general term for positive appraisal of human capacities of any kind is shàn 善 (ant. è 惡 "bad").

  2. Rén 仁 (ant. cán 殘 "unfeeling") refers to kind-heartedness as an attitude directed towards moral behaviour. See BENEVOLENCE

  3. Lián 廉 (ant. tān 貪 "greedy for bribery gifts") refers to moral probity and impeccability.

  4. Zhí 直 (ant. qǔ 曲 "devious") refers to moral straightforwardness and uprightness.

  5. Zhōng 衷 (ant. xié 邪 "wicked") refers to devoted uprightness of character. See also EARNEST

  6. Qīng 清 (ant. zhuó 濁 "defiled and corrupt") can be used to refer to moral purity.

  7. Shú 淑 is a highly poetic word referring to admirable moral qualities in general, typically in women.

  8. Jūn zǐ 君子 (ant. xiǎo rén 小人 "petty man") refers to high moral qualities and capacities, especially in men.

  <div>9. Zāng 臧 (pí 否 "good-for-nothing") is an archaic neutral unemotional objective term for goodness.</div><div><br></div><div>10. Rén yì 仁義, when it is not simply listing benevolence and righteousness, commonly refers quite generally (by synecdoche) to moral goodness or the moral virtues LIKE benevolence and righteousness and not in fact to just two of the virtues.<br></div><br>

• FRANK
  

  1. The current standard word for directness of expression and frankness of attitude is zhí 直 (ant. nìng 佞 "be wily in one's use of language; glib-tongued" and qǔ 曲 "devious").

  2. Zhèng 正 (ant. 譎 "deceitful") refers to a directness and straightforwardness in the expression of what what one thinks is right.

  3. Qíng 情 refers to a disposition to speak honestly of what is at the bottom of one's heart.

  4. Jiǎn 謇 is a fairly rare poetic word referring to fearlessly and frankly uttering one's opinion.

  NB: Tǎn 坦 "frank" is post-Buddhist (NANBEICHAO)

• UNJUST
  

  1. The current general term for injustice suffered is yuān 冤 (ant. píng 平 "proper balanced treatment").

  2. Wǎng 枉 (ant. zhí 直 "straight and lawful treatment") often refers to perversion of justice (althouth the word comes to mean "injustice suffered" by Eastern Han times).

  3. Qǔ 曲 refers to a slightly lesser injustice one is guilty of than wǎng 枉.

  4. Qū 屈 refers to a mild injustice suffered, milder than yuān 冤.

• PEOPLE
  

  1. The dominant current general word for the people is mín 民 (ant. jūn 君 "ruler"), and this term refers inclusively to all the people particularly insofar as they are ruled by a ruler or belong to a state (xiǎo mín 小民 are the ordinary people). [ 夫民之為言也暝也，萌之為言也（肓）〔盲〕也，故惟上之所扶而以之，民無不化也。故曰：「民萌。」民萌哉！ ( 直言其意而為之名也 ) Xinshu 9

  2. Bǎi xìng 百姓 (ant. jūn zhǔ 君主 "ruler") typically refers to the registered senior families in a state who are under the control of the ruler and contribute taxes as well as military service to him; but from earliest times this term was occasionally used to refer generally to the populace at large.

  3. Rén 人 (ant. wáng 王 "king") is sometimes used generically for those people who were taken to have a political voice, as in Yīn rén 殷人 "the people of Yīn".

  4. Méng 氓 / 萌 (ant.* shì mín 士民 "citizens") refers specifically to the common people belonging to the lower echelons of society.

  5. Zhòng 眾, shù 庶 and the rarer and more rarified words 蒸 and lí 黎 refer to the masses of the people under the aspect of their numerousness.

  6. Qián shǒu 黔首 "black-headed people" is the current word for the people especially promoted by the Qin dynasty.

  7. Shì mín 士民 refers to senior registered citizens with a certain political influence; but the term can also be used collectively to refer to the freemen/gentleman shì 士 on the one hand, and the common people mín 民 on the other.

  8. Guó rén 國人 refers not to the people in a state, but specifically to the senior citizens in the capital.

  9. Mín rén 民人 is a very current way of referring to the people without suggesting any low or high status.

  10. Shù rén 庶人 is the technical term for the non-office-holding commoners in a country.

• WICKED
  

  1. The most current and general word for wickedness is probably è 惡 (ant. shàn 善 "good"), but it must be noted that in early texts the word is more current in the meaning of physical ugliness.

  2. Xié 邪 (ant. zhèng 正 "straight and in no way wicked") typically involves nuances of sinister evil influences in addition to plain human depravity.

  3. Suì 祟 (ant. xiáng 祥 "of the good innocuous kind") refers to sinister supernatural wicked forces operating in the human world.

  4. Yāo 妖 (ant. jí 吉 "of a generally auspicious nature") typically implies nuances of seductive or beguiling qualities coexisting with wickedness.

  5. Jiān 姦 (ant. liáng 良 "of the good sort, decent") refers to sheer human depravity with no supernatural or sinister overtones.

  6. Chǒu 醜 (ant. měi 美 "of commendable moral quality") often refers to something rather like moral ugliness and depravity in early texts, but from Han times onwards the word comes to refer to physical ugliness].

  7. Qū 曲 (ant. duān 端 "straight and unwarped") refers to warped crookedness and lack of moral straightness.

  8. Wú 污 (ant. jié 潔 "morally pure and spotless") refers to moral defilement or moral impurity.

  9. Liè 劣 (ant. ) refers to moral inferiority as opposed to excellence.

  10. Pì 僻 (ant. ) refers to

  11. Jiāo 姣 refers to wickedness coupled with cunning, scheming and malice.

  12. Xiǎn 險 is occasionally used to refer to the type of wickedness that is a danger to the group or the state.

  13. Wāi 歪 (ant. zhí 直 "morally straight") refers to wickedness under the image of moral warpedness and and deviation from a straight proper norm.

  14. Xiōng 凶 refers to a baneful wickedness that bodes ill for the future.

  15. Chǐ 恥 refers to something that is a public disgrace. See SHAME.

• CURVED
  

  1. The standard general word for anything bent or curved rather than straight is qǔ 曲 (ant. zhí 直 "straight"), and this word has a range of metaphorical uses.

  2. Qū 屈 refers to something being bent or twisted and therefore not stretched out to its full potential length (ant. shēn 伸 "stretch out") is mostly literal in meaning, except when referring to being bowed down by humiliation.

  3. Wān 彎 refers to naturally curved objects of any kind without any suggestion of them having been bent into this shape.

  4. Yǔ 傴 refers especially to the deformation of the human body through various diseases which cause humans to have curved backs. See HUNCHBACK

  5. Gōu 枸 refers especially to bent wood without any indication of why this wood has become bent.

  6. Róu 輮 is a rare word referring - always very literally - to the bending (especially of wood) into round shape and the resulting bent shape of wood.

• ZERO
  

  1. 無 x 直 means "the value of X is zero". JZ 8.8: 下無錢直 "below there is no coin value, i.e. there is zero.

  2. 虛缺　JZ 8.8 於下實虛缺矣 "below, the dividend, having been empty, now involves a lack> is negative

Word relations
• Inconsist: (STRAIGHT)肆/UNRESTRAINED Sì 肆 and dàng 蕩 (ant. jū 拘 "be properly restrained") refer often positively to lack of inhibitions and a freedom of behaviour. 1 Attribution
• Ant: (GOOD)愿/DILIGENT Yuàn 愿 (not to be confused with yuàn 願 "hope") is an elevated rare word referring to respectful diligence of the people. 1 Attribution
• Ant: (GOOD)曲/WICKED Qū 曲 (ant. duān 端 "straight and unwarped") refers to warped crookedness and lack of moral straightness. 8 Attributions
• Ant: (GOOD)枉/UNJUST Wǎng 枉 (ant. zhí 直 "straight and lawful treatment") often refers to perversion of justice (althouth the word comes to mean "injustice suffered" by Eastern Han times). 1 Attribution
• Ant: (STRAIGHT)屈/BOW DOWN Qū 屈 refers to something being bent or twisted and therefore not stretched out to its full potential length (ant. shēn 伸 "stretch out") is mostly literal in meaning, except when referring to being bowed down by humiliation. 2 Attributions
• Ant: (STRAIGHT)曲/CURVED3 Attributions
• Ant: (STRAIGHT)枉/TWIST Wǎng 枉 (ant. zhèng 正 "straight and unwarped") refers to bending as distortion. The word is predominantly transferred in meaning and prototypically refers to the bending of the law. 3 Attributions
• Ant: (GOOD)邪/WICKED Xié 邪 (ant. zhèng 正 "straight and in no way wicked") typically involves nuances of sinister evil influences in addition to plain human depravity.
• Ant: (STERN)狂/CRAZY1 Attribution
• Assoc: (GOOD)中 / 忠/GOOD1 Attribution
• Assoc: (GOOD)/1 Attribution
• Assoc: (STRAIGHT)婞/STUBBORN1 Attribution
• Synon: (ONLY)獨/ONLY
• Synon: (STRAIGHT)端/STRAIGHT Duān 端 (ant. xié 斜 "slanted") and zhēn 貞 (ant. xié 邪 "morally warped") refer to straightness and non-crookedness, often as a property of abstract things. 3 Attributions
• Oppos: (UPRIGHT)柔/SOFT The current standard word for anything pliable and soft is róu 柔, and I have found no competing words with related meanings. 1 Attribution