修理
xiūlǐ · HSK 4
repair
🔧 修 (fix/cultivate) + 理 (manage/put in order) = repair
修 carries the sense of mending or refining, while 理 means to put things in order or manage. Together they form the everyday verb for fixing or repairing something broken.
修 — 亻 person + 攸 (phonetic) + 彡 hair/decoration
修 combines 攸 (a phonetic component originally showing a person being washed) with 彡, which depicts flowing hair or ornamental strokes. The 彡 element suggests grooming, polishing, or adorning, giving 修 its core meaning of cultivating, repairing, or refining oneself or things.
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.'