Taxonomy of meanings for 理:　　

Additional information about 理

說文解字: 【理】，治玉也。从玉、里聲。 【良止切】

Criteria
• CULTIVATE
  

  1. The current general term for cultivating something or refining it is xiū 修 (from Han times onwards sometimes also miswritten as xiū 脩, ant.* màn 慢 "neglect the cultivation of").

  2. Yǎng 養 refers specifically to the systematic cultivation of higher psychosomatic competence.

  3. Lǐ 理 refers, occasionally, to a rather abstract way of cultivating a certain skill or technique.

• PATTERN
  

  1. The general word for a pattern is wén 文.

  2. Zhāng 章 is specifically a conspicuous pattern in red and white.

  3. Lǐ 理 refers to patterns inherent in things.

• PRINCIPLE
  

  1. Lǐ 理 refers to inherent structuring patterns of things.

  2. Zé 則 refers to a rule or pattern to be followed.

  3. Fǎ 法 (often: "model, method, procedure, law" can refer to a man-made rule pattern or rule, never a "law of nature" and rarely a pattern set by nature.

  4. Zhì 制 refers to a humanly instituted system of principles and rules.

  5. Yào 要 refers to the single underlying most important principle that governs something.

  6. Jīng 經 refers to a basic guideline that one might prefer to follow.

• GOVERN
  

  1. The general word for governing, administering or ordering things is zhì 治, old reading chí.

  2. Wéi 為, yǒu 有, yòng 用, lín 臨, lì 蒞, lǐ 理 are polite ways of referring to the government by a legitimate ruler.

  3. Nán miàn 南面, tīng zhèng 聽政, and the late jiàn zuò 踐祚 "ascend the throne and hold control" are polite ways of referring to the occupation of ruler's position by a legitimate incumbent.

  4. Zhèng 政 refers to the basically bureaucratic administration of a state, practical implementation of governmental measures.

  5. Shù 術 refers to the "philosophical" and political art of statecraft.

  6. Xiǎng 享 refers to government of a state as a privilege enjoyed by the legitimate ruler.

  7. Wàng 王 is the proper government of a state by its legitimate ruler, and term often has "idealising" nuances.

  8. Jūn 君 refers to de-facto government by a ruler without any idealising or approving nuances being implied.

  9. Zhuān 專 refers to the (often illegal or not entirely law-based) monopolising of power, and the word often has negative connotations.

  10. Xiàng 相 refers to senior roles in government bureaucracy other than those of the ruler.

  11. Sī 司 refers to administration on a scale below that of a state.

  12. Shǐ 使 refers to leadership, typically of the people.

  13. Mù 牧 refers to government as a paternalistic responsibility of the ruler.

• JUSTICE
  

  1. The standard word for rectitude and justice is yì 義 "what is right and proper".

  2. Lǐ 理 may perhaps be taken to be the principle which justifies what is right and proper.

  3. Dào 道 can be taken to refer to the way of behaviour that conforms to what is right and proper.

  4. Gōng 公 (ant. piān 偏 ) refers to public-spirited and evenhanded justice, and sometimes this virtue is referred to by the binome gōng píng 公平.

• COSMIC FORCE
  

  1. The most general term for physical principles operative in the dynamics of natural processes is qì 氣.

  2. Yīn 陰 refers to the female, dark principle in Chinese naturalist and cosmological speculation.

  3. Yáng 陽 refers to the male, bright principle in Chinese naturalist and cosmological speculation.

  4. Dào 道 is sometimes used to refer to the quintessential material/energetic basis for cosmic development.

  5. Lǐ 理 is sometimes used as a general concept referring to all manner of basic cosmic forces.

• JUDGE
  

  1. The general legal term for passing judgement is lùn 論.

  2. Dāng 當 is to sit in judgment of a matter and determine guilt.

  3. Duàn 斷 is the conclusion of the process of legal investigation.

  4. Bào 報 refers to the announcement of the judgment passed.

  5. Lǐ 理 refers to the office of the person who is professionally in charge of passing judgment, the judge.

• REPAIR
  

  1. The most current word for repairing or building something up again is xiū 修.

  2. Fù 復 is occasionally used to refer to the bringing back of something to its original shape or state.

  3. Lǐ 理 is occasionally used to refer to bringing something into proper, orderly shape.

  4. Bǔ 補 focusses on the act of supplementing something as a constitutive element to get something into good repair.

  5. Zhàn 綻 refers to the sowing or patching up of clothes.

  6. Shàn 繕, a rare word, refers primarily to getting something to hang properly together which is about to fall apart.

Word relations
• Ant: (PRINCIPLE)事/SITUATION Shì 事 focusses on the factual sequence of events that create a shì 勢. 1 Attribution
• Epithet: (PRINCIPLE)天下/WORLD The current term for the inhabited earth is tiān xià 天下 "All under Heaven", the Greek oikoumenē. 1 Attribution
• Contrast: (PRINCIPLE)道/METHOD Dào 道 is a way of being, of functioning, as well as a way of doing things, and this Way may be either exoteric or esoteric. 2 Attributions
• Contrast: (GOVERN)統/GOVERN1 Attribution
• Assoc: (PRINCIPLE)道/PRINCIPLE4 Attributions
• Assoc: (PRINCIPLE)義/RECTITUDE The most general word is yì 義 "rectitude" which is often used to refer to what is proper and what is one's proper duty in general and also duties in particular. 1 Attribution
• Oppos: (PRINCIPLE)事/THING hì 事 refers to a things as a subject matter, or as an event. 1 Attribution
• Oppos: (PRINCIPLE)欲 / 慾/DESIRE The dominant standard word is yù 欲 (ant. fú 弗 "refused to, would not") which refers to any concrete - and typically temporary - intention or desire of any kind, irrespective how strongly motivated it is. 欲戰 "wants to fight". 1 Attribution
• Oppos: (PRINCIPLE)道/METHOD Dào 道 is a way of being, of functioning, as well as a way of doing things, and this Way may be either exoteric or esoteric. 1 Attribution