使

• Verb: To send, dispatch, or commission a person for a specific purpose; to employ.
• Noun: An envoy, messenger, or ambassador. The scale of the role (from low-level runner to high-level diplomatic emissary) is determined by the rank of the parties involved in the text.

Functions as a structural pivot: [Subject] → 使 → [Object] → [Action].

• Imperative: To order or force someone to act, implying an exercise of authority.
• Permissive: To let or allow someone to act. (The distinction between forcing and allowing is often determined by the social hierarchy of the characters rather than the glyph itself).
• Natural/Logical Causation: Used for non-human agents (e.g., natural forces) resulting in a specific state or action.

• Vs. 遣 (qiǎn): While both involve sending, 使 emphasizes the mission and utility of the person sent; 遣 often carries connotations of dismissal or banishing.
• Vs. 令 (lìng): Both are causative/imperative. 令 is typically more formal, legalistic, or a top-down decree; 使 is broader and describes the general mechanism of causing an effect.

• Fanqie readings: 踈士, 踈吏.

// Tang-period reading: //shriə̌ shriə̀ shriə̌.

• Semantic variant: U+20B46<kKangXi:T.

• Syntactic Clues: If followed immediately by a name or title, consider the nominal "envoy." If followed by an object and then another verb, it is likely the causative "made/let [Object] [Verb]."
• Avoid Over-interpretation: Do not automatically translate every causative 使 as a command ("ordered"). If the subject is a subordinate or a natural force, "caused" or "let" may be more logically sound.