理

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理 U+7406, 理
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-7406
← 琅
 		CJK Unified Ideographs 琇 →
理 U+F9E4, 理
CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-F9E4
← 泥
 		CJK Compatibility Ideographs 痢 →

Translingual

Stroke order
Hong Kong
Stroke order
Japan

Han character

Stroke order
11 strokes

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

Derived characters

References

  • Kangxi Dictionary: 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

Bailang

Etymology

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

Numeral

理 (*riəʔ)

  1. hundred

References

  • 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

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 理

Glyph origin

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／形声, 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

"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". See also 筆 (OC *prud, “writing brush, pen”), likely from allofamic roots *b-ris (“to draw; picture”) or *rit (“to draw; boundary”).
"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

Note:
  • loi2 - vernacular;
  • li2 - literary.
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. * 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

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.
    He doesn't care about even his own son.
  5. (Cantonese) to concern oneself with; to interfere with
    Synonym: 管 (guǎn) (Mandarin)
  6. texture; grain (of wood)
    肌理  ―  jīlǐ  ―  skin texture
  7. reason; logic; truth; science
    真理  ―  zhēnlǐ  ―  truth
    講理／讲理  ―  jiǎnglǐ  ―  to be reasonable
  8. natural science
    理科  ―  lǐkē  ―  the sciences
    數理化／数理化  ―  shùlǐhuà  ―  mathematics, physics and chemistry
  9. a surname
  10. (obsolete) envoy; jail-official; matchmaker

Synonyms

  • (to pay attention to):
Dialectal synonyms of 理 (“to be concerned with; to pay attention to”)
Variety Location Words
Formal (Written Standard Chinese) 理, 管, 睬, 理睬, 理會
Northeastern Mandarin Beijing 理, 搭理, 搭咯
Taiwan 理, 管
Singapore 理, 管
Jilu Mandarin Jinan 理, 搭理
Central Plains Mandarin Xi'an 招, 理
Southwestern Mandarin Chengdu 理, 睬, 理視, 耳視, 張視
Wuhan 邇, 理, 睬
Guilin 理
Jianghuai Mandarin Yangzhou 睬
Hefei 理, 睬
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
Northern Min Jian'ou 理
Eastern Min Fuzhou 叕, 插
Southern Min Xiamen 插, 插趖, 插潲, 插管, 管待, 嘀厾, 理落
Quanzhou 插, 插趖, 插潲, 嘀厾
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
Manila (Hokkien) 插, 插潲, 管
Chaozhou 睬
Shantou 理
Jieyang 睬
Singapore (Teochew) 插
Zhongshan Min Zhongshan (Longdu, Shaxi) 理
Wu Shanghai 睬, 理 rare
Suzhou 理, 睬
Wenzhou 朝, 理
Xiang Changsha 齒
Shuangfeng 齒, 搭, 邇

Compounds

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (理):
  • → Japanese: 理(り) (ri)
  • → Korean: 리/이(理) (ri/i)
  • → Vietnamese: lí (理)

Others:

Japanese

Kanji

理

(Second grade kyōiku kanji)

Readings

Compounds

Compounds

Etymology 1

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

Noun

理(り) • (ri) 

  1. reason, logic

Etymology 2

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】
rejecting
理, 道理, 理由:
reason; logic
reason; motive
This term needs a translation to English.
stem or continuative form of ことわる (kotowaru)
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

Kanji in this term
理
おさむ
Grade: 2
nanori

Proper noun

理(おさむ) • (Osamu) 

  1. a male given name

Korean

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

Wikisource

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

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

Compounds

Compounds

References

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

Vietnamese

Han character

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

  • 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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