孕

• Literal: Pregnancy; to be pregnant; to conceive.
• Metaphorical: Gestation or incubation; a state of potentiality where something has been conceived or gathered but not yet manifested.

// Technical (Daoist/Alchemical): In //Neidan// (Internal Alchemy) contexts, the cultivation and maturation of the "immortal embryo" or the internal refinement of //qi*.

• As a state: Functions as a predicate describing the condition of being pregnant or in a state of incubation.
• As an action: Can function transitively to mean "to conceive" or, metaphorically, "to give rise to" or seed a future state.

Contrast with 胎 (//tāi//): While both relate to fetal development, 孕 typically refers to the condition, the act of carrying, or the duration of gestation, whereas 胎 refers more specifically to the fetus, embryo, or placenta itself.

Reading confirmed by Fanqie (以證). The glyph is stable; no significant variants affect the primary lexical range.