<p>I haven't found any reference on it, so I come out with my own ideas. </p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_character_classification#Rebus_.28phonetic_loan.29_characters" rel="nofollow"><strong>Phonetic loan</strong></a>. In the beginning the ancestors created the character 殊, but the same sound also means "special" to them. The ancestors are as lazy as us, so instead of creating a new character, they borrowed the character 殊 to fill the blank. This is not as likely as my next speculation. </p>

<p><strong>Amelioration</strong>, a form of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_change" rel="nofollow">semantic change</a> in which a word's meaning is changed from bad to good:</p>

<ul>
<li>Originally <code>殊</code> means <code>to put to death</code>, which is an <code>extreme</code> measure, hence <code>very</code> and <code>overly</code>. </li>
<li><code>殊</code> puts life to death, hence <code>different</code>.</li>
<li>If it gets to "very" and "different", there is no way to prevent it to mean <code>special</code>.</li>
</ul>

<p>This, I think, is probably the case. For comparison, the English word <code>dead</code> could also mean <code>very</code>, <code>completely</code>, or <code>exactly</code>, all positive meanings.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-24T03:28:29.153Z
2014-12-24T03:34:08.333Z
2014-12-24T03:34:08.333Z
Wang Dingwei
<p>How did 殊, as in: 特殊、殊技、殊荣、殊勋、殊遇、殊遇 come to have it's meaning of <code>special</code>?</p>

<p>歺(歹)+朱 paint out a rather, more, grim meaning if anything...</p>

<ul>
<li><em>說文解字</em>:</li>
</ul>

<blockquote>
  <p>死也。从歺朱聲。漢令曰：“蠻夷長有罪，當殊之。”市朱切</p>
</blockquote>

<p>How did 殊 get to mean special (in a good way)?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-27T11:24:14.843Z
FYI: The original meaning of「殊」has shifted to「誅」.
dROOOze
<etymology><glyph-origin>
殊: Why 歺(歹)+朱? How did it get to mean special (in a good way)?
# 殊: Why 歺(歹)+朱? How did it get to mean special (in a good way)?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-12-23)

How did 殊, as in: 特殊、殊技、殊荣、殊勋、殊遇、殊遇 come to have it's meaning of `special`?

歺(歹)+朱 paint out a rather, more, grim meaning if anything...

* *說文解字*:

> 死也。从歺朱聲。漢令曰：“蠻夷長有罪，當殊之。”市朱切

How did 殊 get to mean special (in a good way)?

**Tags:** etymology, glyph-origin

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: FYI: The original meaning of「殊」has shifted to「誅」.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2014-12-24. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

I haven't found any reference on it, so I come out with my own ideas.

[**Phonetic loan**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_character_classification#Rebus_.28phonetic_loan.29_characters). In the beginning the ancestors created the character 殊, but the same sound also means "special" to them. The ancestors are as lazy as us, so instead of creating a new character, they borrowed the character 殊 to fill the blank. This is not as likely as my next speculation.

**Amelioration**, a form of [semantic change](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_change) in which a word's meaning is changed from bad to good:

* Originally `殊` means `to put to death`, which is an `extreme` measure, hence `very` and `overly`.
* `殊` puts life to death, hence `different`.
* If it gets to "very" and "different", there is no way to prevent it to mean `special`.

This, I think, is probably the case. For comparison, the English word `dead` could also mean `very`, `completely`, or `exactly`, all positive meanings.


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