理

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理 U+7406, 理
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-7406
← 琅
[U+7405] 		CJK Unified Ideographs 琇 →
[U+7407]
理 U+F9E4, 理
CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-F9E4
← 泥
[U+F9E3] 		CJK Compatibility Ideographs 痢 →
[U+F9E5]

Translingual[edit]

Stroke order
Hong Kong
Stroke order
Japan

Han character[edit]

Stroke order
11 strokes

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

Derived characters[edit]

References[edit]

  • 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

Chinese[edit]

simp. and trad.
 理

Glyph origin[edit]

Characters in the same phonetic series (里) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
埋 *mrɯː
霾 *mrɯː
薶 *mrɯː
榸 *ʔr'ɯː
厘 *rɯ
狸 *rɯ
貍 *p·rɯ
梩 *rɯ
艃 *rɯ
里 *rɯʔ
理 *rɯʔ
鯉 *rɯʔ
俚 *rɯʔ
悝 *rɯʔ, *km̥ʰlɯː
娌 *rɯʔ
裏 *rɯʔ
荲 *r̥ʰɯɡ, *l̥ʰuɡ, *hluɡ

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.

Etymology[edit]

"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-..

Pronunciation[edit]

Rime
Character 理
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 來 (37)
Final (韻) 之 (19)
Tone (調) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) III
Fanqie 良士切
Baxter liX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang 		/lɨX/
Pan
Wuyun 		/lɨX/
Shao
Rongfen 		/lieX/
Edwin
Pulleyblank 		/lɨX/
Li
Rong 		/liəX/
Wang
Li 		/lĭəX/
Bernard
Karlgren 		/liX/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex 		lǐ
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex 		lei5
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 理 理
Reading # 1/2 2/2
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		lǐ lǐ
Middle
Chinese 		‹ liX › ‹ liX ›
Old
Chinese 		/*m(ə).rəʔ/ /*m(ə).rəʔ/
English cut jade; regulate reason; principle

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 理
Reading # 1/1
No. 7827
Phonetic
component 		里
Rime
group 		之
Rime
subdivision 		0
Corresponding
MC rime 		里
Old
Chinese 		/*rɯʔ/

Definitions[edit]

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

Synonyms[edit]

edit
Synonyms of 理
  • (to pay attention to):
edit
Dialectal synonyms of 理 (“to be concerned with; to pay attention to”) [map]
Variety Location Words
Formal (Written Standard Chinese) 理, 管, 睬, 理睬, 理會
Mandarin Beijing 理, 搭理, 搭咯
Taiwan 理, 管
Jinan 理, 搭理
Xi'an 招, 理
Wuhan 邇, 理, 睬
Chengdu 理, 睬
Yangzhou 睬
Hefei 理, 睬
Singapore 理, 管
Cantonese Guangzhou 睬, 理, 騷
Hong Kong 睬, 理, 騷
Yangjiang 理, 睬
Singapore (Guangfu) 理
Gan Nanchang 理, 搭
Hakka Meixian 睬, 唰
Jin Taiyuan 理, 理睬
Min Bei Jian'ou 理
Min Dong Fuzhou 叕, 插
Min Nan Xiamen 插, 插唆, 插潲, 插管, 管待
Quanzhou 插, 插唆, 插潲
Zhangzhou 插, 插潲, 插管, 管待
Tainan 插, 管, 管待
Penang (Hokkien) 插潲
Singapore (Hokkien) 插, 插潲, 管, 插管, 甩
Chaozhou 睬
Shantou 理
Singapore (Teochew) 插
Zhongshan Min Shaxi (Longdu) 理
Wu Shanghai 睬, 理 rare
Suzhou 理, 睬
Wenzhou 朝, 理
Xiang Changsha 齒
Shuangfeng 齒, 搭, 邇
edit
Synonyms of 理

Compounds[edit]

Derived terms from 理

Japanese[edit]

Kanji[edit]

理

(grade 2 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings[edit]

Compounds[edit]

Compounds

Etymology 1[edit]

Kanji in this term
理
り
Grade: 2
on’yomi

Noun[edit]

理(り) • (ri) 

  1. reason, logic

Etymology 2[edit]

Kanji in this term
理
ことわり
Grade: 2
kun’yomi
For pronunciation and definitions of 理 – see the following entry.
【ことわり】
[noun] rejecting
[noun] 理, 道理, 理由:
[noun] reason; logic
[noun] reason; motive
[adjective] This term needs a translation to English.
[verb] stem or continuative form of ことわる (kotowaru) [godan]
Alternative spellings
道理, 理由, 断り, 断わり, 断
(This term, 理, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)

Etymology 3[edit]

Kanji in this term
理
おさむ
Grade: 2
nanori

Proper noun[edit]

理(おさむ) • (Osamu) 

  1. a male given name

Korean[edit]

Etymology[edit]

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

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (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)

Hanja[edit]

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

Wikisource

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

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

Compounds[edit]

Compounds

References[edit]

  • 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [1]

Pai-lang[edit]

Etymology[edit]

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

Numeral[edit]

理 (*riəʔ)

  1. hundred

References[edit]

  • Hill, Nathan W. (2017), “Songs of the Bailang: A New Transcription with Etymological Commentary”, in Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient‎[2], volume 103, pages 386—429

Vietnamese[edit]

Han character[edit]

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}}.

References[edit]

  • 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
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