Taxonomy of meanings for 頃:　　

Additional information about 頃

說文解字: 【頃】，頭不正也。从匕、从頁。 【臣鉉等曰：匕者，有所比附不正也。】 【去營切】

Criteria
• MOMENT
  

  1. The current general word for a very short time is xū yú 須臾.

  2. Qǐng 頃 refers to a short while, a certain reasonably short amount of time, always longer than xū yú 須臾 "a moment".

  NB: Shùn 瞚／瞬 is post-Han.

  3. Shí 時 "time" is commonly used to refer to a moment in time.

• STEP
  

  1. The general word for the length of two steps is bù 步.

  2. Kuǐ 跬／蹞／頃 refers to the ground covered by a single step, lifting only one foot.

• PAST
  

  1. The most general current word for "formerly" referring to any time in the distant or recent past is probably xī 昔 (ant. jīn 今 "present").

  2. Wǎng 往 (ant. lái 來 "future") is a general technical term for the past.

  3. Céng 曾 marks an event as belonging to the past, and the word is highly grammaticalised. 待考

  4. Cháng 嘗 places an action or experience in the past, typically in so far as this past is experienced or witnessed by someone, remarkably often by the speaker himself.

  5. Gǔ 古 and gǔ zhě 古者 refer specifically to ancient times and not just generally to the past.

  6. Xiàng 鄉 / 曏 / 嚮 refers to the relatively recent past.

  7. Nǎng 曩 refers to the somewhat more distant past.

  8. Qǐng 頃 refer to the period a short time ago.

  9. Gù 故 tends to be used adjectivally to characterise something as being former rather than present, and the meaning is very neatly distinct from gǔ 古 which would characterise something as being old.\

  NB: Zuó 昨 refers specifically to something happening a day ago. See YESTERDAY.

• ENDURING
  

  1. The general word for something which is constant and lasting in time is jiǔ 久 (ant. qǐng 頃 "for a short time"), which can refer to bounded or unbounded and open-ended persistence in time.

  2. Cháng 長 (ant. duǎn 短 "of short duration") expresses bounded enduringness with a definite final point being typically imagined, although in cháng shēng 長生 the word refers to an unending long life.

  3. Cháng 常 and the especially emphatic héng 恆 "highly constant and permanent" (ant.* ǒu 偶 "contingency and consequent changeability") emphasise the constancy or constant recurrence of the attributes of what is lasting, and typically - though not always - the constancy is valued positively.

  4. Bì 必 refers to something being an invariable event that always tends to occur.

  5. Shí 時 "recurrently, constantly" allows for something being present or having certain attributes intermittently but over a long stretch of time.

  6. Yóng 永 "last for a while" (ant. zàn 暫 "temporary" post-Buddhist, Six Dynasties: temporarily) is an elevated and poetic word often referring to subjectively experienced long duration.

• THEREUPON
  

  [BRIEF/LONG]

  [DRAMATIC/UNDRAMATIC]

  [EMPHATIC/UNEMPHATIC]

  [NOUN/VERB/PARTICLE/CLAUSE]

  1. The current general word for "thereupon" is yú shì 於是 "at that point, then, thereupon" with its expanded variant yú shì hū 於是乎, but these expressions do not allow for any long delay.

  2. Yǒu jiān 有間 (ant.* xuǎn 旋／還 "without delay", dùn 頓 "immediately, without hesitation") refers to a brief interval of a certain time which ensues, and after which something new happens in the narrative sequence.

  [BRIEF], [UNDRAMATIC], [UNEMPHATIC]; [CLAUSE]

  3. Yǒu qǐng 有頃 (ant. è ér 俄而 "without delay", lì 立 "without delay") is "after a while" and the interval is perhaps a little longer than in yǒu jiān 有間, and this expression also refers to a plain narrative sequence.

  [BRIEF], [UNDRAMATIC], [UNEMPHATIC]; [CLAUSE]

  4. Yǐ ér 已而 (ant. qián cǐ 前此 "before this point in time") refers with emphasis to a longer than expected interval after a certain time.

  [LONG], [DRAMATIC], [EMPHATIC]; [PARTICLE]

  5. Jū 居 (as in jū sān yuè 居三月 "after three months") and the rarer chǔ 處 serve simply to indicate a specified interval after a certain time after which something else happens.

  [VERB], [UNDRAMATIC], [UNEMPHATIC]

  6. Jì 既 (ant. wèi jí 未及 "before even...") focusses dramatically on the fact that an action B does not occur before the action A is completed.

  [BRIEF], [DRAMATIC], [EMPHATIC]; [PARTICLE]

  7. Rán hòu 然後 (ant. yǐ qián 以前 "before") emphasises that an event occurs no sooner than after a certain event or space of time. See ONLY THEN.

  [BRIEF], [DRAMATIC], [EMPHATIC]; [PARTICLE]

  8. Ér hòu 而後 (ant. yǐ qián 以前 "before") emphasises that an event occurs no sooner than after a certain event or space of time. See ONLY THEN.

  [BRIEF], [EMPHATIC]; [PARTICLE]

  9. Xū yú 須臾 stresses that an event occurred immediately after another.

  [BRIEF+]; [nadS]

  10. Hòu 後 (ant. qián 前 "before") is a general word indicating that something happens later than something else.