A general name is used to refer to everything in the same category. It is a term used by Xunzi (313?-238BC)，and its opposite is “distinct name.” A name should denote the nature of a thing. Things with similar properties can be grouped together under a “general name.” These, together with other things with different general names but still sharing some common properties, can have a higher-level “general name”. The highest-level “general name” is called “broad general name.”

There are so many things around us, and sometimes we wish to speak of them all in the same breath, so we call them “things.” “Thing” is a broad general term. We extend this generalization even more and subsume the general under something more general, until there is nothing more general. (Xunzi)