This study systematically investigates the diachronic evolution and synchronic distribution of Chinese verbs denoting “affectionate care”, developing an integrated research framework of “diachronic sorting-synchronic comparison-motivational interpretation”. In the diachronic dimension, the semantic field exhibits distinct phased successions: During Archaic Chinese, it was centered on core verbs including ai (愛), ci (慈), and lian (憐); in Medieval Chinese, ai further consolidated its dominance while peripheral terms underwent gradual attrition; by Early Modern Chinese, tong (痛) and teng (疼) entered the semantic field, with teng eventually securing dominance—coupled with a prominent disyllabization trend. In the synchronic dimension, modern Chinese dialects form a distribution pattern characterized by the dual-core dominance of teng (疼) and tong (痛) and a north-south distributional contrast, supplemented by dialect-specific lexemes endowed with regional distinctiveness, such as xi (惜) and zhitian (值鈿). The research further reveals four key findings: First, dialectal lexical differences stem from the divergence of cognitive construal patterns. Second, their synchronic distribution constitutes the spatial superimposition of historical lexical layers in Chinese. Third, the primary categorization of lexical meanings and the evolution of hyponymic-hypernymic structures jointly drive the refinement of semantic representation. Fourth, dialectal diffusion paths align closely with historical transportation arteries such as the “Yangtze-Huaihe radiation route” and the “Grand Canal-Yellow River corridor”. This study not only advances the specialized research on the “affectionate care” semantic field but also offers new data and insights for research on Chinese lexical history, semantic field theory, and emotion verbs.