The Chinese word 不理 (bù lǐ) is a compound verb formed by combining the negation adverb 不 (bù, meaning "not") with the verb 理 (lǐ, whose core meanings include "to reason," "to manage," or "to acknowledge"). When combined, the character 理 takes on the specific sense of "to pay attention to" or "to heed," so the literal construction "not + heed" directly yields the meaning "to ignore," "to disregard," or "to pay no attention to." This formation follows a standard grammatical pattern in Chinese where 不 is placed before a verb to create a negative action, resulting in a new, fused lexical unit with a specific meaning.