Taxonomy of meanings for 莫:  

  • mò (OC: maaɡ MC: mɑk) 慕各切 入 廣韻:【無也定也説文本模故切日旦冥也从日在茻中茻音莽又州名開元十三年改鄭州去邑亦姓楚莫敖之後又虜複姓五氏西秦録有左衛將軍莫者羖羝南涼州刺史莫侯悌眷後魏末有亂宼莫折念生又有莫輿氏莫盧氏又虜三字姓周太祖賜廣寧楊纂姓莫胡盧氏慕各切十六 】
    • pronoun> NONE
      • npro{SUBJ}+V.postN{TOPIC}}nothing within the range of the TOPIC; no one within the range indicated by the TOPIC
      • npro{PRED}be no one
      • npro+V(.postN{TOP})subjectnothing within the range of the TOPIC; no one within the range indicated by the TOPIC
      • npro{SUBJ}+V{PRED}.postN{TOPIC}negativenone of
      • npro{SUBJ}+V{PRED}humansubject: none, no one
      • npro{SUBJ}+V{PRED}non-humannothing
      • npro+ZHI+V.postN{TOP}reference=objectnone of the Ns as object of VCH
      • npro{OBJECT}+Vtno objectCH
      • gramaticalised> NOT
        • npro.adVnot, be unable; in no way; in no case
        • npro.adVrhetorical questionIs not this..., is it not that... (with a negator or another question particle in sentence final position) 莫...無; 莫...也無; 莫...不; 莫...麼; 莫...否
        • not have> LACK
          • padNrare, archaising PARTICLE: without
        • not certain> PROBABLE
          • padSprobably???; who knows?
        • imperative> DON'T
          • vt[0]+V[0](one) should not ??? (Is this a possible analysis???? I am just wondering...)
          • vt[0]+V[0]personalprohibitive negative: one should not; don't (usually marking a strong prohibition)
          • vt+V[0]don't V(with explicit subject
          • jussive> FORBID
            • nabdispositionprohibitions
  • =暮 EVENING
    • nabtimedusk, nightfall
    • npost-Nin the evening; from the evening onwards
    • nadNevening-, dinner-time-
    • nadSin the evening; in the evenings
    • vibe late in the dayCH
    • nadVtimein the evening; in the eveningsDS
    • generalised from "end of day"> END
      • nadNread mù like 暮 (not in Guangyun): ending, coming to a close
      • specifically:final engraving> CUT
        • vtoNcut and engrave
  • loan?> PLANTS
    • nname of a plant
    • loan?> FLOURISH
      • viluxuriant
  • =漠 BIG
    • vadNwide; vast; extensive

    Additional information about 莫

    說文解字:

      Criteria
    • ALL

      [ADNOMINAL/ADVERBIAL]

      [ARCHAIC/CURRENT]

      [COLLECTIVE/INDIVIDUAL]

      [[COMMON/RARE]]

      [OBJECT-BINDING/SUBJECT-BINDING]

      1. Jiē 皆 the most common and general colourless subject qunatifier which is also used, occasionally as an object quantifier.

      SUBJECT-BINDING!; [padV]

      2.Jìn 盡 is a universal object quantifier which indicates that the action the transitive verb it precedes applies to the whole lot of the objects of that verb indiscriminately.

      [OBJECT-BINDING!], [COLLECTIVE]; [vadVt]

      3. Gè 各 quantifies by emphasising the separate features of each item quantified over.

      [INDIVIDUAL], [SUBJECT-BINDING]; [n+Vt]

      4. Jiān 兼 is an object quantifier which says that the transitive verb it precedes applies to each of the objects in its own right.

      [OBJECT-BINDING], [INDIVIDUAL]; [vadVt]

      5. Qún 群 is a quantifier which indicates that the whole of the flock or group of items designated by the noun it precedes are referred to

      [COLLECTIVE]; [nadN]

      6. Zhū 諸 is an adjectival quantifier which indicates that the whole group of the things indicated by the noun it precedes is referred to.

      [COLLECTIVE]; [padN]

      7. Zhòng 眾 is an adnominal quantififier which says that the whole of the group of things designated by the noun it precedes are intended.

      [COLLECTIVE]; [nadN]

      8. Fán 凡 characterises a topic adnominally as forming the general subject or topic in a non-narrative statement of principle. The current gloss "in general" is misleading because it wrongly suggests that there are exceptions, and because it does not specify the non-narrative "theoretical" nature of the statements introduced by the word. "In principle" is much to be preferred.

      [SPECIFIC]; [vadN[TOPIC]]

      9. Jù 俱 / 具 is a collective subject quantifier which says that all the subjects are equally and together characterised by what is in the predicate.

      [SUBJECT-BINDING]; [vadV]

      10. Fàn 氾 quantifies generally over all objects of the verb it precedes.

      [COLLECTIVE], [OBJECT-BINDING]; [vadVt]

      11. Fàn 汎 says that a verb has a whole range of objects, indiscriminately, and without reference to their specific character.

      [COLLECTIVE], [OBJECT-BINDING]; [padVt]

      12. Měi 每 mostly adnominal and emphasises that a each and every new item quantified over is separately intended.

      [INDIVIDUAL]; [padN]

      13. Jūn 均 / 鈞 expresses universal quantification over all subjects equally, without any difference.

      [INDIVIDUAL], [SUBJECT-BINDING]; [vadN]

      14. Zhōu 周 is a rare object quantifier claiming that all the objects of a verb are intended, without exception.

      [COLLECTIVE], [OBJECT-BINDING]; [vadVt]

      15. Xī 悉 mass object qunatifier which says that the transitive verb it precedes applies to the whole of the objects indiscriminately.

      [COLLECTIVE], [OBJECT-BINDING]; [vadVt]

      16. Xián 咸 is an archaic subject quantifier which came to new life in Han times.

      [INDIVIDUAL], [SUBJECT-BINDING!]; [vadV]

      17. Bì 畢 a subject quantifier which says that the predicate applies to all subjects.

      [ADVERBIAL]; [SUBJECT-BINDING]; [RARE]

      18. Jǔ 舉 is an adjectival quantifier of limited idiomatic use indicating that all the things in a certain area are referred to.

      [ADNOMINAL]; [COLLECTIVE]

      19. Wú bù 無不 is a neutral subject and object quantifier.

      20. Mò bù 莫不 is a neutral subject quantifier.

      [PREVERBAL]; [SUBJECT-BINDING]

      21. Sì hǎi 四海 sometimes refers generally to all inhabitants of the inhabited world, like tiān xià 天下, and these are marginal in this group.

      [NOMINAL]; [COLLECTIVE]

    • NOT

      1. The general all-purpose pre-verbal negation is 不 which generally has the whole predicate it precedes as its scope. 不 can be inchoative "not get to begin", continuative "not continuously", discontinuative "stop doing" or resultative "not get to complete doing". By the rhetorical device of litotes 不 can create antonymic opposites as in 不少 “quite a lot".

      2. Fēi 非 negates categorising subsumptive judgments when it precedes predicative nominals; when preceding verbs 非 "it is not as if" negates not the verbal verbal proposition but metalinguistically the making of a statement that can usefully be paraphrased as "the claim is not that".

      3. Wú 無 "in no way; in no way i.e. regarding no object", when used as a straight negation (contrast SHOULD NOT) is descriptively generalising and not straightforwardly narrative or descriptive.

      4. Fú 弗 "would not; could not" prototypically refers to a refusal or inability to do something which in principle one might intend to do.

      5. Wèi 未 "not yet; not quite" refers to either temporal or logical incompleteness in verbal predication.

      6. Fǒu 否 "It is not the case" is a negative pro-form, and there remains a suspicion that the graph 不 is to be read as fǒu 否 when it is used as a pro-form.

      7. Mò 莫 "none" is protoypically resumptive of an explicit or implicit subject.

      8. Wú 毋 "don't" and wù 勿 don't the object" when not used injunctively, are negations restricted to the position after such causative verbs as 使.

    • SHOULD

      1. The current general word expressing obligation is dāng 當, and this word focusses on the fact that one is objectively obliged to do something.

      2. Yí 宜 emphasises that what one should do is indeed fitting and proper.

      3. Bù kě bù 不可不 construes obligation as inevitability or inescapablitity.

      4. Bì 必 emphasises obligation as ineluctable and expresses a stronger obligation than bù kě bù 不可不.

      5. Mò rú 莫如 emphasises that some obligation represents the best of several options.

      6. Qí 其 expresses a colourless rather weak obligation to do something.

      7. Kě 可 precedes passivised verbs and expresses the idea that some object should be VERBed. See MUST

      Word relations
    • Ant: (NONE)皆/ALL Jiē 皆 the most common and general colourless subject qunatifier which is also used, occasionally as an object quantifier. SUBJECT-BINDING!; [padV]
    • Ant: (FORBID)適/LIKE
    • Synon: (DON'T)勿/DON'T The most common prohibitive particle is wù 勿, which usually precedes transitive verbs with omitted objects.