滋

Core sense: growth or increase driven by moisture, saturation, or organic proliferation (a "swelling" or "seeping" quality).

Lexical range includes:

1. Physical/Hydrological: To moisten, soak, seep, or ooze; the literal presence of liquid saturating a surface or object.

2. Biological Proliferation: To grow rapidly, multiply, or spread (e.g., vegetation in a marsh); an expansive, often uncontrolled increase in number or size.

3. Nourishment: To nourish or cultivate; extends from physical sustenance to metaphysical cultivation of the mind or spirit.

Verb (Intransitive): To proliferate, overflow, or multiply.

Verb (Transitive): To provide the sustenance or moisture necessary for another thing to grow; to nourish.

Adjective: Describing a state of abundance, richness, or saturation.

滋 vs. 茲: While often interchangeable in later texts, 滋 specifically emphasizes the fluid or organic mechanism of growth ("wet" quality), whereas 茲 is more general or functions as a demonstrative ("this").

滋 vs. 加: 滋 refers to organic, internal, or saturation-based increase; 加 refers to additive, external, or mathematical increase.

Determine if the "increase" is an action being performed on something (nourishment) or a process happening to something (proliferation). In descriptive passages, check for imagery of moisture or seepage.