The Chinese word 伦理 (lúnlǐ), meaning "ethics" or "moral principles," is a compound formed by combining two meaningful characters: 伦 (lún), which originally denotes human relationships, social order, or hierarchy (as in 人伦, "human relations"), and 理 (lǐ), which means "principle," "reason," or "inner order." Together, they create a conceptual compound where 伦 provides the social and relational context, and 理 adds the dimension of reasoned principle, thus forming the idea of "the principles governing proper human relationships" or systematic moral philosophy. This formation follows a common pattern in Chinese where two semantically related morphemes are combined to express a more complex, abstract concept.