理会

• Pinyin: lǐ huì
• Hanzi breakdown: 理 = 王 (jade radical) + 里 (natural order); 会 = 人 (person) + 云 (say — come together/understand)

Meaning

To understand; to pay attention to; to bother about. Used in negative — 不理会 (to disregard/ignore) — or to mean to comprehend something.

Similar to 理睬 but broader in scope: 理会 can mean both 'to comprehend' and 'to respond to/take notice of.' In modern usage the 'pay attention/respond' sense dominates, especially in negative forms. Slightly more literary than 理睬 and appears in both spoken and written registers.

Examples

1. 政府迟迟不理会民众的合理诉求，导致矛盾逐渐激化。 The government’s long delay in responding to the public’s reasonable demands caused tensions to escalate.
2. 孩子不理会父母的劝诫，执意要按自己的想法行事。 The child ignored their parents’ advice and insisted on doing things their own way.
3. 她多次发送消息，但对方始终不理会，音讯全无。 She sent messages again and again, but the other person never responded—there was no word at all.

Usage Guide

Context: social, politics, interpersonal, literature

Tone: neutral

Do Say

• 对于无理的要求，我们有权选择不理会。(For unreasonable demands, we have every right to simply disregard them.)
• 她不理会旁人的闲言碎语，专心做自己的事情。(She paid no heed to the gossip around her and focused entirely on her own work.)

Don't Say

• 将理会与理睬完全互换 — 理会兼有'理解'与'回应'两义，理睬几乎只用于'注意/回应'义，两者细微有别

Origin & History

理 (to manage/attend to) + 会 (understand/comprehend)

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal