Taxonomy of meanings for 咎:　　

Additional information about 咎

說文解字: 【咎】，災也。从人、从各。各者，相違也。 〔小徐本作「從人、各聲。人各者，相違。」〕 【其久切】

Criteria
• BLAME
  

  [ARCHAIC/CURRENT]

  [DRAMATIC/UNDRAMATIC]

  [ELEVATED/FAMILIAR]

  [FACE-TO-FACE/NOT-FACE-TO-FACE]

  [GENERAL/SPECIFIC]

  [HIGH-DEGREE/LOW-DEGREE]

  [PRIVATE/PUBLIC]

  1. The current general word for declaring someone morally rather than criminally responsible for a misdeed is jiù 咎 (ant. yù 譽 "praise").

  [ARCHAIC?], [NOT-FACE-TO-FACE!], [PRIVATE]

  2. Shǔ 數 refers to the recounting and publicly recounting and listing up of the misdeeds or mistakes someone has made.

  [FACE-TO-FACE], [HIGH-DEGREE]

  3. Zé 責 (ant. chēng 稱 "praise someone for something") often refers to the public apportioning of blame without the threat of legal action. [see ACCUSE]

  [FORMAL], [FACE-TO-FACE]

  4. Ràng 讓 (ant. zàn 贊 "commend strongly, in public") refers to strong public blame and abuse.

  [DRAMATIC], [FACE-TO-FACE], [PUBLIC],

  5. Qiào 誚 refers to a strong and often abusive public reprimand.

  [DRAMATIC], [FACE-TO-FACE], [FAMILIAR]; [[RARE]]

  5. Yóu 尤 often refers to official blame and censure, but there are archaic generalised uses of the word where it simply means "to apportion blame for something".

  [ARCHAIC+], [ELEVATED], [NOT-FACE-TO-FACE]

  6. Jí 疾 (ant. měi 美 "praise the splendid qualities of someone") refers to strong personal stricture.

  [DRAMATIC], [FACE-TO-FACE], [INFORMAL]

  7. Guò 過 (ant. yù 譽 ) typically refers to a mild and/or subjective moral disagreement with someone. See MISTAKE

  [LOW-DEGREE], [MARGINAL]

• CRIME
  

  1. The current general word for a serious legal transgression is zuì 罪 (ant. gōng 功 "merit"), and the current general word for a minor legal transgression is guò 過 (ant. xiào 效 "positive contribution").

  2. Yóu 尤 refers generally to morally disreputable behaviour.

  3. Jiù 咎 (ant. láo 勞 "obtain merits") refers to an action for which one deserves blame.

  4. Dào 盜 (ant.* dé 德 "virtue") refers to morally and legally outrageous behaviour.

  5. Yuè 越 can come to refer to a failure to keep within the boundaries set by one's social status or office.

  6. Gū 辜 (ant. xún 勛 "significant contribution") is an archaising word referring to serious crimes at an early stage, but later commonly used (mostly in negated form) to refer to any crime.

  7. Tè 忒, qiān 愆, and shěng 眚 refer to a minor but culpable error.

  8. Qiān 愆 refers to a minor mistake in procedure.

• INAUSPICIOUS
  

  1. The current general word for what is of no good omen is xiōng 凶 (ant. jí 吉 ).

  2. Jiù 咎 is an archaic elevated terminus technicus for inauspiciousness used especially in divination literature.

  3. Yāo 妖 / 祅 refers to concrete inauspicious events like animal misfosters.

  4. Niè 孽 refers to inauspicious events, and the reference is said to be typically to botanic misfosters.

  5. Jìn 祲 refers to inauspicious supernatural influences.

  6. Bù xiáng 祥 is currently used to refer to inauspicious events.

• DISASTER
  

  1. The most common general word for disasters is huò 禍 (ant. fú 福 "good fortune") which has no connotations of any metaphysical kind. (In OBI the character currently transcribed as huò 禍 - and closely related to 占 - refers not only to disasters as such, but particularly to disastrous omens.)

  2. Zāi 災 refers to a natural disaster, typically sent down by Heaven.

  3. Huàn 患 refers to any major or minor disaster, even down to minor irritations.

  4. Yāng 殃 always refers to major natural disasters, often construed as causes by human misdemeanour, or by a failure to take preventive action.

  5. Niè 孽 often has heavy metaphysical connotations and refers to disasters as caused by higher powers acting with an intention to harm, but there are some clear cases where the word refers to man-made trouble in MENG.

  6. Nàn 難 refer to man-made disasters of every kind.

  7. Jí 急 is a disastrous or highly precarious situation that has occurred suddenly and requires urgent attention.

  8. Bù yú 不虞 is normally a minor disaster that was utterly unexpected.

  9. Xiōng 凶, shěng 眚 and jiù 咎 are archaic metaphysical terms for misfortunes.

  10. Hài 害 refers generally to harm, but in OBI the word standardly refers to harm done by supernatural powers or ancestors.

Word relations
• Ant: (DISASTER)福/LUCK The dominant general word for good fortune is fú 福 (ant. huò 禍 "misfortune"), and the dominant general word for good luck is xìng 幸 (ant. yāng 殃 "misfortune"). 2 Attributions
• Contrast: (BLAME)怪/BLAME
• Contrast: (BLAME)責/BLAME Zé 責 (ant. chēng 稱 "praise someone for something") often refers to the public apportioning of blame without the threat of legal action. [see ACCUSE]
• Contrast: (BLAME)非/CRITICISE The current general term for criticism is fēi 非 (ant. shì 是 "approve of").
• Contrast: (DISASTER)禍/DISASTER The most common general word for disasters is huò 禍 (ant. fú 福 "good fortune") which has no connotations of any metaphysical kind. (In OBI the character currently transcribed as huò 禍 - and closely related to 占 - refers not only to disasters as such, but particularly to disastrous omens.) 1 Attribution
• Assoc: (DISASTER)凶/DISASTER Xiōng 凶, shěng 眚 and jiù 咎 are archaic metaphysical terms for misfortunes.
• Synon: (BLAME)非/CRITICISE The current general term for criticism is fēi 非 (ant. shì 是 "approve of").