RARE    罕見罕

HAPPEN FEW TIMES ONLY.
SELDOMINFREQUENTSCARCESPARSEFEW AND FAR BETWEENTHIN ON THE GROUNDLIKE GOLD DUSTAS SCARCE AS HEN'S TEETHOCCASIONALLIMITEDODDISOLATEDUNACCUSTOMEDUNWONTEDRARELYRARELYINFREQUENTLYHARDLY (EVER)SCARCELY (EVER)ALMOST NEVERNOW AND THENOCCASIONALLYSPORADICALLYINFORMAL ONCE IN A BLUE MOON
Old Chinese Criteria
1. The current general word for seldom is hǎn 罕 (ant. lu# 屢 "fairly often), which tends to refer to a very low fequency of occurrence of something. 2. Xiǎn 鮮 (ant. cháng 常 "frequently, in the natural course of events") refer to a dramatic degree of scarcity. 3. Xī 希 / 稀 (ant. shuò 數 "repeatedly, many times, several times") refers to relative scarcity or sparseness both in time and in space. 4. Shǎo 少 (ant. duō 多 "often") is a colourless word frequently used to indicate non-specifically that something is not often seen.
Modern Chinese Criteria
稀少 希罕 稀有 鮮有 罕有 少有 希 罕聞 罕見 少見 鮮見 僅見 偶見 偶發 難得 難遇 鐵樹開花 千載難逢 千載一時 百年不遇 十年九不遇 rough draft to BEGIN TO identify synonym group members for analysis, based on CL etc. 18.11.2003. CH ／
Antonym
See also
Hypernym
  • FEW　SMALL in QUANTITY. (anc: 6/0, child: 3)
  • QUANTITY　DEGREE of being MANY OR FEW that CAN be MEASURED OR COUNTED. (anc: 5/0, child: 3)
  • DEGREE　FEATURE of MORE or LESS. (anc: 4/0, child: 4)

Words (16 items)

鮮  xiǎn OC: sqenʔ MC: siɛn 16 Attributions

Xiǎn 鮮 (ant. cháng 常 "frequently, in the natural course of events") refer to a dramatic degree of scarcity.

    Syntactic words
  • vadVrarely, in only a few cases
  • vibe rare, be sparseCH
寡  guǎ OC: kʷraaʔ MC: kɣɛ 5 Attributions
    Syntactic words
  • vadVseldom, rarely
希  xī OC: qhlɯl MC: hɨi
稀  xī OC: qhlɯl MC: hɨi 5 Attributions

Xī 希/稀 (ant. shuò 數 "repeatedly, many times, several times") refers to relative scarcity or sparseness both in time and in space.

    Word relations

    Syntactic words
  • vadVrarely in time and space
  • vt+prep+Nab{ACT}be reluctant to V, rarely V
  • vtoNputativefind rare
殊特  shū tè OC: djo ɡ-lɯɯɡ MC: dʑi̯o dək 4 Attributions
    Syntactic words
  • VPadVin a rare way; extraordinarily
  • VPibe special; be extraordinary
  • VPpostadVto an extraordinary extent
罕  hǎn OC: qhaanʔ MC: hɑn 4 Attributions

The current general word for seldom is hǎn 罕 (ant. lu# 屢 "fairly often), which tends to refer to a very low fequency of occurrence of something.

    Word relations
  • Ant: 常/ENDURING 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.

    Syntactic words
  • vadVvery rarely
希有  xī yǒu OC: qhlɯl ɢʷɯʔ MC: hɨi ɦɨu
稀有  xī yǒu OC: qhlɯl ɢʷɯʔ MC: hɨi ɦɨu 3 Attributions
    Syntactic words
  • VPadNrare (event); rare and precious (thing) 甚稀有
少  shǎo OC: hmljewʔ MC: ɕiɛu 3 Attributions

Shǎo 少 (ant. duō 多 "often") is a colourless word frequently used to indicate non-specifically that something is not often seen.

    Syntactic words
  • vadVseldom
  • vibe rare
  • vichangebecome rare
世之稀有  shì zhī xī yǒu OC: lʰebs kljɯ qhlɯl ɢʷɯʔ MC: ɕiɛi tɕɨ hɨi ɦɨu 2 Attributions
    Syntactic words
  • NPpostadVin a way that is rare in this world
  • NPpredicaterarity
疏  shū OC: sqra MC: ʂi̯ɤ 2 Attributions
    Syntactic words
  • vadVat long intervals
  • vibe few and far betweenDS
艱  jiān OC: krɯɯn MC: kɣɛn 1 Attribution
    Syntactic words
  • nadNN=nonhuarchaic: hard-to-obtain
難得  nán dé MC: nan tok OC: mɢlaan tɯɯɡ 1 Attribution
    Syntactic words
  • VPadNrare and valuableCH
稀有  xī yǒu OC: qhlɯl ɢʷɯʔ MC: hɨi ɦɨu 1 Attribution
    Syntactic words
  • VPibe rare
世之少雙  shì zhī shǎo shuāng OC: lʰebs kljɯ hmljewʔ srooŋ MC: ɕiɛi tɕɨ ɕiɛu ʂɣɔŋ 1 Attribution
    Syntactic words
  • VPibe almost unequalled in the world
挺特  tíng tè OC: deeŋ ɡ-lɯɯɡ MC: deŋ dək 1 Attribution
    Syntactic words
  • VPibe extraordinary, be very special
少雙  shǎo shuāng OC: hmljewʔ srooŋ MC: ɕiɛu ʂɣɔŋ 0 Attributions
    Syntactic words
  • VPibe scarcely parallelled by anyone/anything
不世  bù shì OC: pɯʔ lʰebs MC: pi̯ut ɕiɛi 0 Attributions
    Syntactic words
  • VPibe rare in this world