字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

logic, arrangement, reason, justice, truth

On’yomi リ
Kun’yomi ことわり
Nanori あや、おさむ、さと、さとる、ただ、ただし、とおる、に、のり、ひ、まこと、まさ、まさし、まろ、みち、よし

Origin

The character 理 combines 王 (king, or more broadly, jade and precious things) on the left with 里 (a sound hint that suggests the pronunciation) on the right. The 王 component hints at something precious and ordered—things that are refined or have inherent structure. Over time, this visual combination came to represent the idea of "logic" or "reason," the precious ordering principle that underlies things. The right component 里 simply tells you roughly how to say the character, without contributing to its meaning.

AI-generated (claude-haiku-4-5), not yet reviewed. Formation type (automated guess): Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint).

理 11 strokes

Components

  • 王 radical left
  • 里 sound hint right

A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.

Common words

  • 監理 かんり superintendence; supervision
  • 管理 かんり control; management (e.g. of a business)
  • 義理 ぎり duty; sense of duty
  • 経理 けいり accounting; administration (of money)
  • 原理 げんり principle; theory
  • 合理 ごうり rationality
  • 受理 じゅり acceptance
  • 修理 しゅうり repair; mending

Related kanji

Same sound component 里
Same radical

Reference

Strokes
11
Kangxi radical
96
Grade
Grade 2 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#86 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 3
Unicode
U+07406