Taxonomy of meanings for 陌:　　

Additional information about 陌

說文解字:

Criteria
• FIELD BOUNDARY
  

  1. The most current general term, at least from Han times onwards, is qiān mò 阡陌. This term is mostly used generically or in the plural. Occasionally the word is also used to refer to the area surrounded by qiān mò 阡陌. Qiān 阡 is rarely used on its own.

  2. Quǎn 畎／甽 are little canals of water between fields, for drainage.

  3. Mò 陌 can refer on its own to mudpaths between fields.

  4. Pàn 畔 refers to the borderline between whole fields crossed individually by qiān mò 阡陌.

• PATH
  

  1. Perhaps the most general term for a path is jìng 徑, but the word refers specifically to a shortcut, whereas the rarer xī 蹊 refers more generally to any path that has been trampled up, by humans or by animals.

  2. Qiān mò 阡陌 are the ubiquitous mudpaths between fields ideally qiān 阡 going north-south and mò 陌 east-west, but this latter commentarial tradition would seem to be an idealising rationalisation.

  3. Lǒng 壟 is occasionally used to refer to the raised borders between fields.

  4. Mǔ 畝 is an earlier word than 壟 referring to the raised borders between fields, and by extension to the fields themselves.