逝

Core sense is a departure characterized by flow or slipping away, implying an inherent irreversibility.

• Temporal/Abstract: The vanishing of time, seasons, or opportunities as they pass.
• Death and Departure: The transition of leaving the living world; often functions as a poetic euphemism, formal notice of demise, or philosophical observation on impermanence.

Primarily intransitive; describes a state of being in transit or the act of vanishing.

• Contrast with generic verbs of motion: Unlike 去 (to go) or 行 (to travel), 逝 implies movement from which there is no return.
• Contrast with biological death: Unlike 死, 逝 emphasizes the transition or departure rather than the cessation of biological life.

Tang-period reading: zhiɛ̀i; Fanqie reading: 時制.

Operates within a "fluid" semantic space (often used in parallel to terms for flowing or receding) despite lacking the water radical.

• Register: Typically signals high-register, reflective, or elegiac prose. Common in philosophical treatises on nature and time, and formal obituaries; uncommon in mundane or administrative texts.
• Contextual Choice: Determine whether the subject is a person (departing/dying) or an abstract concept (vanishing), as both imply loss or inevitable progression.
• Syntax: If the glyph appears to have an object, verify if that "object" is actually the subject (e.g., “the years [subject] passed [verb]”).