Taxonomy of meanings for 種:  

  • 種 zhòng (OC: tjoŋs MC: tɕioŋ) 之用切 去 廣韻:【種埴也之用切又之隴切三 】
    • SOW
      • vido the sowing, sow the fields
      • vt(oN)figurativeplant the seeds of the contextually determinate N
      • vtoNto sow (seeds of a plant); to plant (a tree)
      • vtoNfigurativelay the foundations of, "plant"; BUDDH: plant the seeds of
      • figurative: give birth to>BIRTH
    • 種 zhǒng (OC: tjoŋʔ MC: tɕioŋ) 之隴切 上 廣韻:【種類也又之用切 】
      • SEED
        • nmseeds
        • nmfigurativeseeds (in Buddhist texts frequently used fig. and metaphorically)
        • feature>MANY
          • n.red:adNsundry; all kinds of, various, many, all sorts of
          • n.redall kinds of things
          • npost-V{NUM}.adVin V[NUM] number of ways
          • vi.red:adVin many ways
        • humans of common seed>FAMILY
          • nfamily, group of people with shared ancestry
          • specific: of later generation>DESCENDANT
            • generalised>RACE
                • generalised>CATEGORY
                  • nab.post-V{NUM}kind of thing
                  • nab.post-V{NUM}figurativekind, type, category
                  • nabsocial(BUDDH:) social class in India: caste (sometimes also: clan, family lineage; see 種姓)
                  • ncpost-V{NUM}.+Nkinds of 五種人"five kinds of people"
                  • npost-Nthe N-breed
                  • nab{PRED}belong to natural categories or kindsCH
                  • nab.post-Nthe category of NCH
          • =腫

          Additional information about 種

          說文解字: 【種】,先穜後孰也。从禾、重聲。 【直容切】

            Criteria
          • CATEGORY

            1. The general current word for the abstract notion of a category of any kind is lèi 類.

            2. Shǔ 屬 construes a category as something that concrete things belong to or belong under, and the term is not abstract in force.

            3. Zhǒng 種 "kind" emphasises the common origin and derives from the biological notion of a species, and the term often refers specifically to the kinds of grain.

            4. Chóu 疇 "natural group a thing belongs to" is not really a logical term of classification but essentially a term belonging to the sociology of animals.

          • SOW

            1. The current word for sowing is zhòng 種 (ant. shōu 收 "harvest").

            2. Bō 播 focusses on the spreading of seeds over a field.

            3. Jià 稼 (ant. sè 穡 "harvest") refers specifically to the sowing of grain.

            4. Shù 樹 is marginal in this group because the word refers generally to planting seedlings rather than sowing.

            5. Yì 藝 can occasionally be used to refer specifically to the planting of rice seedlings and the like.

            6. Zhí 殖 (ant. huò 獲 "harvest") includes the planting as well as the ensuing cultivation of domesticated plants.

            7. Zāi 栽 refers to placing of seedlings of any kind or provenance in the earth as part of agricultural cultivation, and the word first became current in Eastern Han times.

            8. Shí 蒔 refers to the replanting of seedlings from one cultivated patch to another.