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su-li · W234

suli · ordinary person; structure-embedded person; person shaped by institutional context · ✅

← Word Registry · Building words
Domain Social / Human
Class person / role
Type compound
Register standard
First use ORD-001-I (S833): la-o-li no ne to-su-ra-li / ne su-li — "They were not ideological fanatics; they were ordinary men." (Browning, Ordinary Men)

Definition

su (structure/organization) + li (person) = structure-person = a person whose character is determined by their institutional and social structural embedding rather than by exceptional individual traits. The title compound of Browning's Ordinary Men thesis: perpetrators were not exceptional monsters but persons whose behavior was shaped by their organizational context (pa-su, W235). Distinct from all other li-compounds: li-su-li (W001, leader/coordinator = structure of persons), to-su-li (expert = organized-knowledge person), to-li (W003, knower), wi-de-li (W124, adversary), ra-su-li (W225, sovereign) — su-li names the baseline: structurally-embedded ordinary person, one among many. Antonym in context: to-su-ra-li (ideological fanatic = doctrine-force-person), which names the exceptional case Browning argues was not operative.

su (primitive: structure), li (primitive: person), pa-su (W235: circumstances), li-su-li (W001: leader/coordinator — distinct), to-su-li (expert — distinct), to-su-ra-li (ideological fanatic — contextual antonym)

Generated from registry/entries.yaml.