制订
zhìdìng · HSK 4
work/map out
📋 制 = make/craft + 订 = settle/agree → make-and-settle = formulate
制 carries the sense of crafting or producing; 订 means to fix or settle (as in 订婚 'get engaged'). Together they mean drafting something and locking it in — exactly what you do when you formulate a plan 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.
订 — speech radical 讠 + nail 丁
订 combines the speech radical 讠 (word) with 丁 (nail), which also hints at the sound. The idea is words 'nailed down' into an agreement, giving meanings like to settle, arrange, subscribe, or book. 丁 is mainly phonetic here but reinforces the sense of fixing something firmly.