伦理
lúnlǐ · HSK 7
moral
⚖️ 伦 = human relations + 理 = principle: the principles governing how people treat each other
伦 covers human relationships and social order; 理 means reason or principle. Together 伦理 is the reasoning about right conduct between people — ethics. Sounds like LOON-lee.
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.'