招

• Physical gesture: To beckon or wave someone over.
• Formal summoning and recruitment: To call for, recruit, or levy (e.g., soldiers).
• Causal invitation: To bring about or attract a consequence, typically negative (e.g., attracting suspicion or calamity).

• vs. 召: 招 often involves a physical gesture or active recruitment; 召 emphasizes the abstract authority of a command.
• vs. 徵: In early contexts, 招 may imply an invitation or the offering of incentives, whereas 徵 typically denotes a compulsory draft or state demand.
• vs. 邀: 招 implies pulling someone toward the subject ("come here"), while 邀 often suggests meeting halfway or a social engagement.
• vs. 請: 請 emphasizes the request and formality; 招 emphasizes the act of calling.

In later texts, the sense of "gesture" evolves into a specific "move," "trick," or "stratagem" (e.g., 招式), though this is generally not applicable to early classical texts.

When translating the causal sense (inviting misfortune), determine if the text implies an intentional act of beckoning or an unintentional consequence of the subject's behavior.