King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

Chinese symbol for “theory”

理论
lǐ lùn
Traditional: 理論
theory; 个 (gè); to argue; to take notice of

The closest CC-CEDICT match for theory is 理论 (lǐ lùn), defined as: theory; 个 (gè); to argue; to take notice of.

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
论 lùn
debate; discussion
radical 149 ⾔ · 6 strokes

Traditional forms

Other Chinese words for “theory”

WordPinyinMeaning
学说 (學說)xué shuōtheory; doctrine
说 (說)shuōto speak; to talk; to say; to explain; to comment
论 (論)lùnopinion; view
说法 (說法)shuō faway of speaking; wording
理念lǐ niànidea; concept

Related words

Other words that share a character with 理论.

WordPinyinMeaning
管理guǎn lǐto supervise; to manage
处理 (處理)chǔ lǐto handle; to deal with; to punish
理解lǐ jiěto comprehend; to understand
总理 (總理)zǒng lǐpremier; prime minister
理由lǐ yóureason; grounds
讨论 (討論)tǎo lùnto discuss; to talk over
无论 (無論)wú lùnno matter what or how; regardless of whether...
评论 (評論)píng lùnto comment on; to discuss

See also: Japanese symbol for “theory”.

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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