Taxonomy of meanings for 諷:　　

Additional information about 諷

說文解字: 【諷】，誦也。从言、風聲。 【芳奉切】

Criteria
• REPORT
  

  1. The current word for any report or the passing on of any information is gào 告. But see also ADDRESS.

  2. Yù 語 is a common word referring to informal oral notification or instruction.

  3. Bào 報 and the rarer fù 復 refer to an oral report to the authorities as required by these authorities.

  4. Yè 謁 refers to the transmitting of a message, typically by the ancient Chinese equivalent of a butler.

  5. Wén 聞 refers to making something known to a superior or to the public at large.

  6. Fěng 諷 refers to an informal (often subtly disguised) personal opinion passed on to superiors.

  7. Bái 白 refers to a personal report, often urgent, and typically by an inferior to a superior, and when used among equals it is a polite form of self-deprecation.

• READ
  

  1. The general word for reading out a written text (there was probably no silent reading in pre-Buddhist China) was dú 讀. See Platform Sutra Tanjing 2.8.4 for a nice example. NB: reciting texts for oneself was a way of studying these, so that by Han times the word sometimes came close to meaning "study".

  2. Lǎn 覽, guān 觀, and dǔ 睹 can occasionally refer to the running one's eyes over a text (probably mumbling it in the process, but there is no evidence whatever to substantiate this assumption) and thus reading it.

  3. Jiàn 見 can occasionally refer to the looking at a text to see what it says.

  4. Fēng 諷 refers to the current practise of reading a certain text.

• PERSUADE
  

  1. The current general words for persuasion are shuì 說 "persuade of a point of view or a course of action" versus quàn 勸 "persuade someone to engage in a certain course of action he or she was not originally planning to enage in".

  2. Jiàn 諫 refers specifically to remonstration or dissuasion of a superior. See REMONSTRATE.

  3. Fěng 諷 refers to persuasion of a superior by subtle indirect means.

  NB: Practical "persuasion" of the quàn 勸 kind differs from quàn 勸 "to encourage" in that it contains a clear element of intellectual persuasion that it is right to do what one is encouraging someone to do.

• REMONSTRATE
  

  1. The current general word for making representations to higher authorities is jiàn 諫.

  2. Fěng 諷 refers to the making of indirect polite representations to superiors.

  3. Zhēng 爭 / 諍 refers to vigorous and sometimes even aggressive representations to superiors.

• CHANT
  

  1. The current word for chanting poetry in a deeply emotional manner for the benefit of others is yǒng 詠;

  2. The current word for chanting prose aloud for the benefit of others is sòng 誦, and the prose chanted normally has to be of high cultural status.

  3. F1ē3ng 諷 refers specifically to (possibly reading out and) reciting what one is familiar with and may even know by heart. (Old reading fèng!)

  4. Fù 賦 refers to the recital of poetry of any kind, commonly even one's own works.

  5. Yín 吟 is to hum and quietly intone something for one's own enjoyment, perhaps as one walks along, typically as an expression of one's emotions, and not primarily for others to listen to, and the word is never used as a transitive verb with an object indicating what exactly is being hummed or intoned.

  6. Shēn 呻 is to mournfully hum poetry to oneself.

  7. Zàn 贊 refers to the ritual reading out of a prescribed liturgical text on formal occasions.

  8. Chàng 唱 refers to dramatic loud and drawn-out recital of prose texts. See SING

  See also READ

Word relations
• Contrast: (READ)讀/READ The general word for reading (which was probably never silent reading in pre-Buddhist China) was dú 讀. NB: reciting texts for oneself was a way of studying these, so that by Han times the word sometimes came close to meaning "study".
• Assoc: (CHANT)詠/CHANT The current word for chanting prose for the benefit of others is sòng 誦, and the prose chanted normally has to be of high cultural status. 2 Attributions
• Assoc: (CHANT)誦/CHANT The current word for chanting poetry in a deeply emotional manner for the benefit of others is yǒng 詠; 1 Attribution
• Assoc: (REMONSTRATE)諫/REMONSTRATE The current general word for making representations to higher authorities is jiàn 諫. 1 Attribution