Taxonomy of meanings for 寶:　　

  • 寶 bǎo (OC: puuʔ MC: pɑu) 博抱切 上 廣韻：【寶古文 】
  • 寶 bǎo (OC: puuʔ MC: pɑu) 博抱切 上 廣韻：【珍寶又瑞也符也道也禮記曰地不藏其寶又天寶晉灼云天寶雞頭人身又姓出何氏姓苑博抱切十五 】
    • JADE
        • specific> ORNAMENT
          • nmjewel (mass noun???)
          • specific: imperial> SEAL
            • used for economic exchange> MONEY
                • feature> PRECIOUS
                  • nab.post-V{NUM}figurativemost important thing, objectively most valuable thing 諸侯之寶三
                  • nabstativepreciousness 寶之至也
                  • nccprecious possession; precious things; treasure of high personal, monetary, social or moral value 三寶
                  • nmtreasure (cf. English: you will receive treasure...)
                  • vadNprecious; sometimes: containing treasure
                  • vadNfigurativemost treasured, most important
                  • vibe precious
                  • nabfigurativeabstract: treasure, most precious abstract item
                  • vtoNmake N preciousLZ
                  • putative> APPRECIATE
                    • vtoNputativeto treasure, to consider as very precious
                    • vtoNpassivebe appreciated 可寶
                    • vtoNputative.reflex.自consider (oneself) as valuable
                    • your precious, your> YOU
                      • figurative> VIRTUE

              Additional information about 寶

              說文解字: 【寶】，珍也。从宀、从(王)[玉]、从貝，缶聲。 〔小徐本作「從宀、玉、貝，缶聲。」〕 【博皓切】 【寚(𡩧)】，古文寶省貝。

                Criteria
              • APPRECIATE

                [ABSOLUTE/GRADED]

                [EMOTIONAL/UNEMOTIONAL]

                [GENERAL/SPECIFIC]

                [HIGH-DEGREE/LOW-DEGREE]

                [POETIC/PROSAIC]

                1. Guì 貴 is the most general word for appreciating the importance which is inherent in something, and the word is comparative in nuance.

                [GRADED], [GENERAL], [UNEMOTIONAL]

                2. Zhēn 珍 is an elevated word referring to very intense appreciation or prizing of something as invaluable and as being of more than purely material value.

                [EMOTIONAL], [HIGH-DEGREE], [POETIC]

                3. Bǎo 寶 refers to the treasuring of something as something that one has, keeps as a treasure, and is loath to lose.

                [EMOTIONAL], [HIGH-DEGREE]

              • PRECIOUS

                1. The current general word for objective preciousness and real high value and importance is bǎo 寶 (ant. zhuì 贅 "trifles"), and this word often has abstract figurative meanings "what one treasures as most important in one's life".

                2. Guì 貴 (ant. jiàn 賤 "cheap") refers to something precious and expensive, and the idea is always that this things are publicly recognised as precious.

                3. Zhēn 珍 (ant. yōng 庸 "perfectly ordinary") is always concrete when nominal and refers to preciousness with strong overtones of exquisite and exlusive distinction of the object concerned, and there often is a touch of the subjective. Hence the common combination zhēn guài 珍怪 "precious and exotic things", and the derived meaning of "culinary delicacies".

                Word relations
              • Epithet: (PRECIOUS)玉/JADE
              • Assoc: (PRECIOUS)幣/MONEY Bì 幣 referred originally to the silk which could be used for sacrifice or as a gift. In the Warring States period, the term refer to precious things (jades, horses) often used as a gift. In Han times, the word was used like a general term for money.
              • Assoc: (PRECIOUS)珍/PRECIOUS Zhēn 珍 (ant. yōng 庸 "perfectly ordinary") is always concrete when nominal and refers to preciousness with strong overtones of exquisite and exlusive distinction of the object concerned, and there often is a touch of the subjective. Hence the common combination zhēn guài 珍怪 "precious and exotic things", and the derived meaning of "culinary delicacies".
              • Assoc: (APPRECIATE)愛/LOVE The clearly dominant word referring to love is ài 愛 (ant. hèn 恨 "dislike"; rarely zēng 憎 "dislike"; and wù 惡 "hate"), and this word refers both to the feelings of love and to the expression of love in loving care for another person as well as in sexual relations. (Occasionally, the word may refer to the emotional preference that a small child feels for its parents. For this meaning see PREFER.)
              • Assoc: (PRECIOUS)貨/PROPERTY Huò 貨 refers to property, particularly precious metals or jade etc, insofar as these may be traded or is considered as being a possible object for trading.