理

• Physical: The grain, veins, or natural texture of a material (originally jade, extending to wood, stone, or textiles).
• Procedural/Administrative: To sort out, untangle, regulate, arrange, manage, or govern.
• Abstract: Underlying principle, coherence, propriety, or the "reason why."

• Transitive Verb: To regulate, manage, polish, or straighten out (e.g., sorting a dispute or organizing a household).
• Intransitive Verb/State: To be in order; to make sense; to be consistent.
• Noun: The pattern, the grain, the principle, or the "correct" way of a thing.

• 理 vs. 治 (zhì): While both involve managing/governing, zhì often implies the imposition of order from above or the "curing" of a disorder; lǐ suggests alignment—finding and working with the existing grain of a situation.
• 理 vs. 道 (dào): dào is typically the overarching path or the way things move; lǐ is the internal structure, mechanism, or "grain" that makes that movement possible.

• Early strata: Usage is more grounded in physical patterns and practical "sorting out." In this context, "reason" refers to consistency or propriety rather than formal logic.
• Later strata (notably Neo-Confucianism): The term expands into a major ontological category—the universal "Principle" governing all existence. Rendering lǐ as an abstract metaphysical Principle in pre-Song texts may be an over-translation.

Avoid the default translations of "logic" or "reason" if the context is tactile or administrative. If the passage concerns a physical object, consider "grain" or "texture." If it concerns a process, consider "arrangement," "regulation," or "sorting." Reserve "principle" for philosophical contexts and "logic" only when referring to internal coherence.