李

See also: 季
李 U+674E, 李
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-674E
← 杍
[U+674D]
CJK Unified Ideographs 杏 →
[U+674F]
李 U+F9E1, 李
CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-F9E1
← 易
[U+F9E0]
CJK Compatibility Ideographs 梨 →
[U+F9E2]

Translingual

Stroke order
7 strokes

Han character

李 (Kangxi radical 75, 木+3, 7 strokes, cangjie input 木弓木 (DND), four-corner 40407, composition ⿱木子)

Derived characters

  • 𭇶, 𣵎, 𣒶, 𦁝, 𪴏, 𦰁

References

Chinese

trad. 李
simp. # 李
alternative forms 杍

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 李
Western Zhou Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han) Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions Small seal script Transcribed ancient scripts

Oracle bone script: Phono-semantic compound (形聲/形声, OC *rɯʔ) : phonetic 來 (OC *m·rɯːɡ, “wheat”) + semantic 子. The phonetic part 來 became gradually corrupted to yield 木 (“tree”).

Shuowen erroneously remarks that this is a phono-semantic compound (形聲/形声, OC *rɯʔ) : semantic 木 (“tree”) + phonetic 子 (OC *ʔslɯʔ).

Pronunciation


Note: lei5-2 - plum (fruit).
Note:
  • sā̤ - vernacular (plum);
  • lǐ - literary (surname).

  • Dialectal data
Variety Location 李
Mandarin Beijing /li²¹⁴/
Harbin /li²¹³/
Tianjin /li¹³/
Jinan /li⁵⁵/
Qingdao /li⁵⁵/
Zhengzhou /li⁵³/
Xi'an /li⁵³/
Xining /l̩⁵³/
Yinchuan /li⁵³/
Lanzhou /li⁴⁴²/
Ürümqi /li⁵¹/
Wuhan /ni⁴²/
Chengdu /ni⁵³/
Guiyang /ni⁴²/
Kunming /li⁵³/
Nanjing /li²¹²/
Hefei /zz̩²⁴/
Jin Taiyuan /li⁵³/
Pingyao /li⁵³/
Hohhot /li⁵³/
Wu Shanghai /li²³/
Suzhou /li³¹/
Hangzhou /li⁵³/
Wenzhou /lei³⁵/
Hui Shexian /li³⁵/
Tunxi /li²⁴/
Xiang Changsha /li⁴¹/
Xiangtan /ni⁴²/
Gan Nanchang /li²¹³/
Hakka Meixian /li³¹/
Taoyuan /li³¹/
Cantonese Guangzhou /lei²³/
Nanning /li²⁴/
Hong Kong /lei¹³/
Min Xiamen (Hokkien) /li⁵³/
Fuzhou (Eastern Min) /li³²/
Jian'ou (Northern Min) /li²¹/
/sɛ⁴⁴/
Shantou (Teochew) /li⁵³/
Haikou (Hainanese) /li²¹³/

Rime
Character 李
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 來 (37)
Final (韻) 之 (19)
Tone (調) Rising (X)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) III
Fanqie 良士切
Baxter liX
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang
/lɨX/
Pan
Wuyun
/lɨX/
Shao
Rongfen
/lieX/
Edwin
Pulleyblank
/lɨX/
Li
Rong
/liəX/
Wang
Li
/lĭəX/
Bernard
Karlgren
/liX/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex
lǐ
Expected
Cantonese
Reflex
lei5
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 李
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)
lǐ
Middle
Chinese
‹ liX ›
Old
Chinese
/*C.rəʔ/
English plum

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 李
Reading # 1/1
No. 17869
Phonetic
component
子
Rime
group
之
Rime
subdivision
0
Corresponding
MC rime
里
Old
Chinese
/*rɯʔ/

Definitions

李

  1. plum (tree and fruit)
  2. † Alternative form of 理 (lǐ, “judge; justice”)
  3. a surname, listed fourth in the Baijiaxing
    李白  ―  Lǐ Bái  ―  Li Bai (Li Bo) (Tang dynasty poet)
    李連杰/李连杰 [Cantonese]  ―  lei5 lin4 git6 [Jyutping]  ―  Jet Li (Li Lianjie or Li Yangzhong)

Usage notes

In mainland China and among its expatriates, this surname is generally romanized as "Li" in accordance with the Hanyu Pinyin system. Although an identical transliteration is used in Wade-Giles, similarity in pronunciation to the English surname makes the romanization "Lee" more common in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and elsewhere. A notable example of this is Bruce Lee.

Synonyms

Descendants

  • → English: Li, Lee
  • → German: Li
  • → Tagalog: Dy, Dee (via Hokkien)

Compounds

References

Japanese

Kanji

李

(“Jinmeiyō” kanji used for names)

Readings

Compounds

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
李
Jinmeiyō
kun’yomi
Alternative spelling
酸桃

Compound of 酸 (su, “vinegar; sour”) +‎ 桃 (momo, “peach”).[1][2]

Pronunciation

  • (Tokyo) すもも [sùmómó] (Heiban – [0])[2]
  • IPA(key): [sɨᵝmo̞mo̞]

Noun

李(すもも) or 李(スモモ) • (sumomo) 

  1. plum (Prunus salicina)
Usage notes

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts (where katakana is customary), as スモモ.

Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Middle Chinese 李 (MC liX).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ɾʲi]

Affix

李(り) • (ri) 

  1. plum
Derived terms

Proper noun

李(リ) or 李(り) • (Ri) 

  1. Japanese reading of the Chinese or Korean surname

李(リー) or 李(りい) • (Rī) 

  1. Japanese reading of the Chinese surname

李(イ) or 李(い) • (I) 

  1. Japanese reading of the South Korean surname
Derived terms

References

  1. Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典(新装版) [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN

Further reading

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 李 (MC liX).

Historical readings

Pronunciation

  • (initial position)
    • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA(key): [i(ː)]
    • Phonetic hangul: [이(ː)]
      • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.
  • (non-initial position)

Hanja

Wikisource 李 (eumhun 오얏나무 리 (oyannamu ri), South Korea 오얏나무 이 (oyannamu i))

  1. Hanja form? of 리/이 (“Lee, the second most common Korean surname.”).
  2. (literary) Hanja form? of 리/이 (“plum tree”).

Usage notes

This hanja is spelled 이 (i) in South Korea due to 두음 법칙 (頭音法則, dueum beopchik).

Compounds

References

  • 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전/電子字典.

Vietnamese

Han character

李: Hán Nôm readings: lí, lý

  1. chữ Hán form of Lý (“a surname from Chinese.”).
    李公蘊 ― Lý Công Uẩn
  2. a unisex given name

References

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