The Polysemy of PO in Mandarin Chinese

The present paper notes that the lexical item PO, literally meaning ‘to break’, bears multiple semantic imports in Mandarin Chinese. Given the lack of well-documented research on the semantics of the lexical item, this paper aims to explore the various meanings of PO. By examining the collocations of PO, thirteen meanings are identified, with predicative and attributive senses. It is proposed that the manifold meanings are interrelated with each other and that several meanings are derived from the core verbal meaning of the lexical item. Three generalized metaphors are observed to assume a mediating role in the semantic extensions of PO. In light of the semantic relatedness of the various meanings, the polysemous nature of the lexical item PO is substantiated.