制定
zhìdìng · HSK 3
formulate
📝 制 = control/make + 定 = fix/settle → make-and-settle = formulate
制 carries the sense of crafting or establishing (as in 制造 manufacture), and 定 means to fix or determine (as in 决定 decide). Together: to draft and finalize a plan, law, or policy.
制 — knife 刂 + 未 (tree branches)
Originally depicted a knife 刂 cutting branches from a tree, showing the act of trimming or shaping wood. From this concrete sense of cutting to size came the meanings 'to make,' 'to manufacture,' and by extension 'to control' or 'regulate' — shaping things to a desired form.
定 — roof 宀 + 正 (correct/upright, phonetic)
Originally written with 宀 (roof) over 正 (upright/correct), suggesting a household settled and orderly under its roof. Over time 正 simplified to 㐬-like form at the bottom, and the meaning shifted from 'settled home' to the broader senses of 'fix, stable, decide.'