Origin

The character 律 combines two components to express the idea of law and order. The left part, 彳, represents a path or way—the idea of movement and direction. The right part, 聿, originally depicted a brush or writing implement used to mark and record things. Together, these components suggest the idea of laying down rules or guidelines along a path: just as a brush marks what should be followed, laws and regulations provide the marks and measures that guide behavior. This visual metaphor of marking a path with rules eventually came to mean law, regulation, and the orderly rhythm that comes from following such guidelines.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Compound ideographic (combined meanings).