理

Stroke order

理 (Kangxi radical 96, 玉+7, 11 strokes, cangjie input 一土田土 (MGWG), four-corner 1611₄, composition ⿰王里)

• 𨤰 𨤻

• KangXi: page 733, character 4
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 21014
• Dae Jaweon: page 1145, character 1
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1115, character 13
• Unihan data for U+7406
• Unihan data for U+F9E4

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *rɯʔ) : semantic 玉 (“jade”) + phonetic 里 (OC *rɯʔ).

According to Shuowen Jiezi, the character meant “to polish jade”. The current meaning “to order, tidy up” may be derived from it.

"to cut jade, to mark out (field boundaries)"

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *b-rəj (“draw, mark, boundary”) (STEDT; Schuessler, 2007); cognate with Apatani a-rí (“boundary”), Mizo ri (“boundary, frontier, border”), Drung bri (“to write”), Mru pri (“to scratch”), Tibetan འབྲི ('bri, “to write”), Burmese ရေး (re:, “to write”) & စာရေး (care:, “to write, clerk”). Schuessler glossed its fundamental meaning as "cut in a regular way, divide into equal sections".

"to regulate"

STEDT groups this sense "to cut jade, to mark out (field boundaries)"; Schuessler (2007) noted that 理 (lǐ) "to regulate" was often thought to be the same word as 理 (lǐ) "to divide into sections", as the former sense might be derived from the latter.

"to administer"

Probably related to 釐 (lí, “to regulate”) (Schuessler, 2007)

"envoy, jail official, matchmaker"

Related to 吏 (lì, “official”), 史 (shǐ, “scribe, historian”), and 使 (shì, “ambassador”)

Possibly the same word as 理 (lǐ) "to administer".

According to Schuessler (2007), from Austroasiatic; compare Old Khmer re (“to move, change position”) & its derivatives Old Khmer pre (“to send, order, assign, appoint, delegate, use, employ, make”), in turn related to paṃre (“to serve; service, duty; servant, delegate, representative, minister”); with Sino-Tibetan causative *s- corresponding to Khmer causative *p-..

理

1. (obsolete) to cut and polish jade
2. to put in order; to tidy up

   整理  ―  zhěnglǐ  ―  to tidy

   把頭髮理一理／把头发理一理  ―  bǎ tóufà lǐ yī lǐ  ―  to get a haircut

3. to manage; to run; to handle

   理財／理财  ―  lǐcái  ―  to manage money matters

4. (usually in negative) to pay attention to; to care about

   他們不理我。／他们不理我。  ―  Tāmen bù lǐ wǒ.  ―  They are ignoring me.

   佢連自己個仔都唔理。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   佢连自己个仔都唔理。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   keoi⁵ lin⁴ zi⁶ gei² go³ zai² dou¹ m⁴ lei⁵. [Jyutping]

   He doesn't care about even his own son.

5. texture; grain (of wood)

   肌理  ―  jīlǐ  ―  skin texture

6. reason; logic; truth; science

   真理  ―  zhēnlǐ  ―  truth

   講理／讲理  ―  jiǎnglǐ  ―  to be reasonable

7. natural science

   理科  ―  lǐkē  ―  the sciences

   數理化／数理化  ―  shùlǐhuà  ―  mathematics, physics and chemistry

8. a surname
9. (obsolete) envoy; jail-official; matchmaker

• (to put in order): 料理 (liàolǐ), 張羅／张罗 (zhāngluo)
• (to manage):

• (to pay attention to):

• (texture): 紋路／纹路 (wénlù)
• (inner essence):

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

• Go-on: り (ri, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: り (ri, Jōyō)
• Kun: すじ (suji, 理); ことわり (kotowari, 理); おさめる (osameru, 理める)
• Nanori: みち (michi); まろ (maro); まさし (masashi); まこと (makoto); ひ (hi); のり (nori); に (ni); とおる (tōru); ただし (tadashi); さとる (satoru); おさむ (osamu); よし (yoshi); あや (aya)

理(り) • (ri) 

1. reason, logic

理(おさむ) • (Osamu) 

1. a male given name

From Middle Chinese 理 (MC lɨ^X). Recorded as Middle Korean 리〯 (lǐ) (Yale: lǐ) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

• (initial position)
  • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [i(ː)]
  • Phonetic hangul: [이(ː)]
    • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.
• (non-initial position)
  • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [ɾi]
  • Phonetic hangul: [리]

Wikisource 理 (eumhun 다스릴 리 (daseuril ri), South Korea 다스릴 이 (daseuril i))

1. Hanja form^? of 리/이 (“reason; logic”).

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *b-r-gja. Compare Old Burmese ရျာ (rya).

理 (*riəʔ)

1. hundred

• Hill, Nathan W. (2017), “Songs of the Bailang: A New Transcription with Etymological Commentary”, in Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient‎, volume 103, pages 386—429

理: Hán Nôm readings: lí, lẽ, nhẽ

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

• Thiều Chửu : Hán Việt Tự Điển Hà Nội 1942
• Trần Văn Chánh: Từ Điển Hán Việt NXB Trẻ, Ho Chi Minh Ville, 1999
• Vũ Văn Kính: Đại Tự Điển Chữ Nôm, NXB Văn Nghệ, Ho Chi Minh Ville