King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “reason”

理由
lǐ yóu
reason; grounds; justification; 个 (gè)

The closest CC-CEDICT match for reason is 理由 (lǐ yóu), defined as: reason; grounds; justification; 个 (gè).

Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.

Characters and stroke order

理 lǐ
science, reason, logic; to manage
radical 96 ⽟ · 11 strokes
由 yóu
cause, reason; from
radical 102 ⽥ · 5 strokes

Other Chinese words for “reason”

WordPinyinMeaning
道理dào lireason; argument
理性lǐ xìngreason; rationality
理智lǐ zhìreason; intellect
缘故 (緣故)yuán gùreason; cause
缘由 (緣由)yuán yóureason; cause

Related words

Other words that share a character with 理由.

WordPinyinMeaning
管理guǎn lǐto supervise; to manage
处理 (處理)chǔ lǐto handle; to deal with; to punish
理论 (理論)lǐ lùntheory; 个 (gè)
理解lǐ jiěto comprehend; to understand
总理 (總理)zǒng lǐpremier; prime minister
由于 (由於)yóu yúdue to; as a result of
自由zì yóufreedom; liberty; free; unrestricted
由此yóu cǐhereby; from this

See also: Japanese symbol for “reason”.

Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.

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