制

Formed as a compound ideograph:

未 (not yet; young tree with branches) — originally depicting a tree with small branches, here representing the idea of “sprouting growth.”

刀 (knife, blade) — indicates cutting.

The combined form depicts cutting or pruning a tree’s branches, symbolizing the act of trimming, controlling, restraining. From this concrete meaning arose the extended sense of imposing regulation, control, or restriction in human affairs.

First attested in Bronze inscriptions (金文 jinwen).

Stabilized in its current form during the Clerical Script (隸書) period.

In modern usage, 制 is also the simplified form of 製 (to manufacture, to produce) in Mainland China.

Semantic range

- to control, restrain, regulate (절제하다, 규제하다);

- to restrict, limit (제한하다);

- to rule, govern (통제하다);

- by extension, to make, establish, enact (제정하다).

제도 (制度) — system, institution

제한 (制限) — restriction, limitation

규제 (規制) — regulation, control

제압 (制壓) — suppression, subjugation

제정 (制定) — enactment, legislation

절제 (節制) — moderation, self-control

독재 (獨裁) — dictatorship (lit. “holding sole control”)

In Confucian ethics, 制 often conveys the importance of self-restraint and moderation (e.g. 節制). The ability to regulate desires and maintain balance was seen as an essential quality of the cultivated gentleman (君子).

In political philosophy, 制 refers to laws, institutions, and measures that restrain disorder and maintain harmony.

In Legalist (法家) thought, 制 emphasized firm control through rules and punishment.

Thus, the character carries connotations both of personal discipline and societal governance.

製 (to produce, to manufacture; traditional form preserved outside mainland China)