奢

Material excess: Refers to extravagance or wastefulness, typically rooted in household expenditure and consumption. It generally carries a negative moral weight, denoting "excess" rather than "splendor."

Verbal excess: Extends to exaggeration or overstatement (making a claim "too large").

Functions as an adjective describing a person, habit, or lifestyle, or as a stative verb ("to be extravagant").

Contrast with 侈 (chǐ): While often synonymous, 奢 tends to refer to the volume of consumption and the amount of resources used, whereas 侈 leans toward ostentation, vanity, and the desire for public display.

Collocation: When paired as 奢靡 (shēmǐ), the meaning shifts from simple extravagance toward dissipation and moral or material decay.

Phonological evolution is consistent from Fanqie 式車 and Tang-period reading //shia// to modern //shē//. No significant divergent readings affect the semantic range.