无 and 毋 similar to 呆 and 待?

[Scoobyqueen]

There was a previous discussion on the differences between 呆 and 待 meaning to stay. Some people thought it seemed odd to have a word that was pronounced the same yet was written differently. Is the situation the same with 无 and 毋 meaning "not ..."?

I was wondering if 毋 is a word that occurs more in literature. (according to my flashcards I last saw it used 毋庸 and cant remember if I have seen it anywhere else).

[fengyixiao]

无=没有：nothing,there is nothing

毋=勿=不要：don't,you can't do something

[leeyah]

I was wondering if 毋 is a word that occurs more in literature

AFAIK 毋 and many other literary characters are still used extensively in some dialects, eg. Hakka（客家话) or Cantonese (粤语).

毋 is rarely seen in Mandarin, except as part of fixed expressions/phrases, as in eg.:毋需, 毋须, 毋容, 毋庸>>毋需任何言语 etc, so I think it seems to be reserved for very formal use only, or perhaps it's considered stylistically "stronger" than 无, same as eg. 勿 , another homonym of 无 & 毋. or 莫 mó (= 无1 mó, mou in Cantonese) or 免/止, not homonyms but still semantically interchangeable, close in meaning to the aforementioned 毋,无,勿 & 莫.

These are all used in phrases with the same meaning of negation. I saw 非工作人员勿进 for Staff only! in a 网吧 in GZ, equivalent to the more common>> 闲人免进, and later many more such 勿+verb prohibition signs elsewhere>>勿乱扔杂 No litter! etc etc

[Scoobyqueen]

How about 演变and 衍变. Can they be used interchangeably and the only difference being the character?

[Hofmann]

Is the situation the same with 无 and 毋 meaning "not ..."?

I remember posting in the discussion about 呆 and 待 that 呆 means 保 and they aren't related. I don't think it's the same case with 無 and 毋. All the negatives that begin with bilabial consonants in Middle Chinese (e.g. 不非無弗勿莫毋否) might be related.

[aristotle1990]

Actually, 无 can sometimes mean 毋, as in this line from the 诗经: 碩鼠碩鼠、無食我黍

It's translated here as: 大田鼠呀大田鼠，不要吃我種的黍.

[emina]

It's translated here as: 大田鼠呀大田鼠，不要吃我種的粮食.

[Scoobyqueen]

The original thread was about two different characters with the same pronunciation and same meaning. Someone once raised the question about what the point was of having two different characters. I found another pair which might also fall into the same category: 刹(车) and 煞(车)。 do they not mean exactly the same?

so this makes four pairs:

无 and 毋

呆 and 待

刹 and 煞

演(变)and 衍(变)

Still not sure if they mean exactly the same and can be used interchangeably which was my original question.

[Scoobyqueen]

Anyone knows if these pairs are identical in meaning depite the first character being different (see question above)? I have seen them spelt in two different ways. However, it could be a spelling mistake:

毋庸讳言

勿庸讳言

[Kenny同志]

Both are correct, with the first one being more common.

[chestnut818]

无=没有, I agree withe #2,毋=勿=不要

呆，when means stay, are same as 待。

演变and 衍变， I looked up two dictionaries, one said, they are same, another one said, 演变 is for some dramatic and unexpectable changes, 衍变 is for the changes predictable and inevitable..