Taxonomy of meanings for 卒:　　

Additional information about 卒

說文解字: 【卒】，隸人給事者衣爲卒。卒衣，有題識者。 【臧沒切】

Criteria
• SUDDENLY
  

  1. The most common word for suddenness is hū 忽.

  2. Tū 突 and zhà4 乍 "out of the blue" refer to the unforeseen onset of something one has imagined was likely or even possible.

  3. Cù 卒 / 猝 refers to the sudden onset of something before it was expected to occur.

  4. E@ 俄 and é ér 俄而 refer to the abrupt occurrence of an event of strikingly short duration.

  5. Bó 勃 is typically limited in application to the suddenness of the initial emergence of a phenomenon.

• COINCIDENCE
  

  1. The current general word for contingency is shì 適 (ant. bì 必 "necessarily").

  2. Huì 會 is an historian's technical term for coincidence which became current in Han times, and the word is adsentential.

  3. O ㄆ偶 (ant. bì 必 "necessarily") is a rather rare word specifically focussing on the arbitary contingency of something happening.

  4. Guǒ 果 "in the event" focusses on the fact that something that might not have happened but was expected to happen, did in fact happen.

  5. Zú 卒 and jìng 竟 focus on something happening in the end that might never have happened at all.

• DIE
  

  1. The dominant general word is sǐ 死 (ant. shēng 生 "be alive"), and this can refer to the death of plants as well as animals or men.

  2. Bēng 崩 refers to the death of an emperor.

  3. Hōng 薨 and cú 殂 / 徂 refers to the death of a senior official.

  4. Zú 卒 is specifically the death of a common citizen, but occasionally also used to refer to the death of senior persons like dukes.

  5. Piǎo 殍 and jǐn 殣 "(of common people) starve to death, die in the gutters" refer distinctly to the death of ordinary people.

  6. Mò 沒 / 歿 (ant. cún 存 "survive") and zhōng 終 are abstract elevated, polite words to use about the death of a significant person.

  7. Yì 殪 "get killed" is the result of violent action.

  8. Yāo (old: yǎo) 夭, yǎo 殀 and shāng 殤 (ant. shòu 壽 "long-lived") refer to an early and not just untimely death.

  9. Jí22 shì 即世 refers to the death of high-ranking personalities in the bureaucracy.

  10. Wáng 亡 "cease to be" is a polite and periphrastic way of referring to death.

  11. Xùn 殉 refers to the act of laying down one's life, dying for a cause.

  NB: The periphrastic vocabulary of Chinese referring to death is extraordinarily large. I have more than 900 terms - if modern locutions gēbēr sǐ 咯嘣兒死 "die" are included.

• PRECEDE
  

  1. The current word for being first or coming first in time, or for being first in the order of importance, is xiān 先 (ant. hòu 後 "later").

  2. Chū 初 (ant. zú 卒 "finally" and zhōng 終 "end") refers to the very first stage in a historical development, and the word never has any abstract reference to an order of importance. See also BEGIN

  3. Shǒu 首 (ant. mò 末 "final point"(and sometimes in nominal usages wěi 尾 "tail end")) sometimes refers to the first person to do something important.

• END
  

  1. The common noun referring to the final stage or final moment in a process is zhōng 終 (ant. shǐ 始 "beginning").

  2. Bì 畢 refers to finishing or discontinuing an action after it has achieved its aim or comes to a natural end. See also COMPLETE which is frustratingly difficult to distinguish in practice from END.

  3. Zú 卒 (ant. chū 初 "beginning") typically refers to a definitive and often abrupt end to a process which has lasted some time, but not for all the preceding time.

  4. Occasionally jìn 盡 "exhaust" is used to refer to the end of a period.

• SOLDIER
  

  1. There is no current general word for a soldier of any rank, and the collective term for soldiers is jūn 軍 "army". See ARMY

  2. Zú 卒 and the archaic tú 徒 refer to an ordinary infantry soldier, and these footsoldiers never ride chariots.

  3. Jiǎ 甲 refers to armoured soldiers riding in carriages.

  4. Jì 騎 refers to cavalry (Han dynasty).

  5. Nǔ 弩 refers to crossbowmen.

  6. Yì 役 refers to a conscript soldier.

  7. Xiǎo rén 小人 (jūn zǐ 君子 "soldier of a higher grade") refers generically to the lower grades in the army.

  8. Shì 士 refers to officers riding chariots in battle.

  NB: Bīng 兵 "soldier" may turn out to be post-Han. I have not yet found a clear example where the word refers to a soldier.

Word relations
• Ant: (END)初/BEGIN Chū 初 (ant. mò 末 "end") is purely chronological and refers to the early stage of something that persists, without indicating any lasting influence of that early stage on later developments. See FIRST
• Ant: (END)始/BEGIN The general word for something occurring for the crucial and influential first time or initiating anything, in particular any development, is shǐ 始 (ant. zhōng 終"bring to an end; come to an end" and chéng 成 "bring to a successful end, complete"). 1 Attribution
• Object: (SOLDIER)起/MOBILISE The current general term for raising an army was qǐ 起. The army may be of any size, and the person raising the army may or may not be raising the army in an official capacity. 1 Attribution
• Epithet: (SOLDIER)步/WALK Bù 步 (ant. zǒu 走 "run fast") refers to dignified slow pacing along. 1 Attribution
• Contrast: (DIE)死/DIE The dominant general word is sǐ 死 (ant. shēng 生"be alive"), and this can refer to the death of plants as well as animals or men. 1 Attribution
• Assoc: (SOLDIER)士/SOLDIER Shì 士 refers to officers riding chariots in battle. 6 Attributions