真理
zhēnlǐ · HSK 5
gospel truth
📖 真 = true + 理 = principle, so 真理 = true principle = truth
真 means real or true, and 理 means reason, logic, or principle. Together 真理 names the absolute truth — the kind philosophers and religions chase, often translated as gospel truth or verity.
真 — 匕 (spoon) over 目 (eye) over 八 (eight/base)
真 originally depicted a person or vessel used in ritual, conveying the idea of something genuine or true. Over time the form was reanalyzed as components like 匕, 目, and a base, but the core meaning of 'real, true, genuine' has remained stable since early bronze inscriptions.
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.'