按理说
àn lǐ shuō · HSK 7
it is reasonable to say that...
⚖️ àn lǐ shuō = press + reason + say — pressing on reason to make a point
按 means press or according to, 理 means reason or logic, 说 means say. Together: according to reason, one would say... Used to introduce what logically should be true, often before a 'but'.
按 — hand radical 扌 + 安 (peace)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The hand radical 扌 gives the meaning, indicating an action done with the hand, while 安 (ān, peace) supplies the sound. The original sense was to press down with the hand, which extended to meanings like 'to push,' 'to restrain,' and figuratively 'according to.'
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.'
说 — speech radical 讠(言) + 兑
说 combines the speech radical 讠(言, 'words') with 兑, which acts as the phonetic component. The character originally meant 'to explain' or 'to speak,' and broadened to mean 'say' or 'talk.' The same graph is also read 'yuè' meaning 'pleased,' a sense later written 悦.