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
Antonym
Hypernym
  • FEWSMALL in QUANTITY.
    • QUANTITYDEGREE of being MANY OR FEW that CAN be MEASURED OR COUNTED.
      • DEGREEFEATURE of MORE or LESS.
        • FEATUREABSTRACT OBJECT a THING is SAID to BE OR to HAVE....
See also
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 ／

Old Chinese Contrasts
LEIBNIZ 6.4 P. 31: R a r o, id est paucis temporibus (vel locis).

    Words

    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
    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
    罕  hǎn OC: qhaanʔ MC: hɑn 3 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
    疏  shū OC: sqra MC: ʂi̯ɤ 2 Attributions
      Syntactic words
    • vadVat long intervals
    • vibe few and far betweenDS
    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
    艱  jiān OC: krɯɯn MC: kɣɛn 1 Attribution
      Syntactic words
    • nadNN=nonhuarchaic: hard-to-obtain
    挺特  tíng tè OC: deeŋ ɡ-lɯɯɡ MC: deŋ dək 1 Attribution
      Syntactic words
    • VPibe extraordinary, be very special
    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
    難得  nán dé MC: nan tok OC: mɢlaan tɯɯɡCH 1 Attribution
      Syntactic words
    • VPadNrare and valuableCH
    不世  bù shì OC: pɯʔ lʰebs MC: pi̯ut ɕiɛi 0 Attributions
      Syntactic words
    • VPibe rare in this world
    少雙  shǎo shuāng OC: hmljewʔ srooŋ MC: ɕiɛu ʂɣɔŋ 0 Attributions
      Syntactic words
    • VPibe scarcely parallelled by anyone/anything

    Existing SW for

    Here are Syntactic Words already defined in the database: