代理
dàilǐ · HSK 5
act as agent/proxy
🧑💼 代 = substitute/replace, 理 = manage — substitute-manager = agent
代 means to take someone's place; 理 means to manage or handle affairs. Together: one who manages on another's behalf — an agent or proxy. Same 代 as in 代表 (represent) and 现代 (modern era).
代 — person radical 亻 + 弋 (stake/dart, phonetic)
代 is a semantic-phonetic compound: 亻 (person) gives the meaning and 弋 supplies the sound. The original sense was one person taking the place of another, which broadened to 'substitute,' 'replace,' and then 'generation' or 'era' — successive groups of people replacing the previous.
理 — jade radical 玉/王 + village 里 (phonetic)
理 is a semantic-phonetic compound: the jade radical 王 (玉) on the left signals meaning, while 里 on the right gives the sound. It originally meant the natural veins or grain in a piece of jade, then extended to 'pattern,' 'order,' 'principle,' and finally the modern senses 'reason' and 'to manage.'