り

Japanese

Stroke order

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɾʲi]

• Audio:

  (file)

Etymology 1

Derived in the Heian period from writing the man'yōgana kanji 利 in the cursive sōsho style.

Syllable

り (romaji ri)

1. The hiragana syllable り (ri). Its equivalent in katakana is リ (ri). It is the fortieth syllable in the gojūon order; its position is ら行い段 (ra-gyō i-dan, “row ra, section i”).

See also

• (Hiragana) 平仮名; あぁ, いぃ, うぅゔ, えぇ, おぉ, かゕが, きぎ, くぐ, けゖげ, こ𛄲 (𛄲)ご, さざ, しじ, すず, せぜ, そぞ, ただ, ちぢ, つっづ, てで, とど, な, に, ぬ, ね, の, はばぱ, ひびぴ, ふぶぷ, へべぺ, ほぼぽ, ま, み, む, め, も, やゃ, 𛀆, ゆゅ, 𛀁, よょ, らら゚, りり゚, るる゚, れれ゚, ろろ゚, わゎわ゙, ゐ𛅐 (𛅐)ゐ゙, 𛄟 (𛄟), ゑ𛅑 (𛅑)ゑ゙, を𛅒 (𛅒)を゙, ん, ー, ゝ, ゞ, ゟ

Etymology 2

For pronunciation and definitions of り – see the following entries.

【里】2 [noun] a unit of distance: [noun] under the 律令 (Ritsuryō) system, defined as equal to 300 歩 (bu) or 1500 尺 (shaku) [noun] from the early modern until the end of the Edo period, defined as equal to 36 町 (chō), approximately between 3.6 to 4.2 kilometers [noun] from the mid-Meiji period, defined as equal to 129,600⁄33 meters, approximately 3.927 kilometers or 2.44 miles [noun] (historical) under the 律令 (Ritsuryō) system, a unit of area for regional administration, equal to 50 戸 (ko, “houses”) [affix] village

【理】2 [noun] reason, logic

【利】4 [noun] profit, benefit, advantage [verb] to benefit

(This term, り (ri), is the hiragana spelling of the above terms.) For a list of all kanji read as り, see Category:Japanese kanji read as り.)

(The following entries are uncreated: 裏, 吏, 痢, 履, 離, 俚, 詈, 罹.)

Etymology 3

Originally the classical copula verb あり (ari, “it is”) following a verb in the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”).

The -i ending of the preceding verb stem contracted with the initial a- in ari to form -eri, which was reanalyzed as the 已然形 (izenkei, “realis form”, corresponding to the modern hypothetical form) or 命令形 (meireikei, “imperative form”) of the verb stem for 四段活用 (yodan katsuyō, “quadrigrade conjugation”) verbs, or the 未然形 (mizenkei, “irrealis or incomplete form”) for サ変動詞 (sa-hen dōshi, “sa-irregular verbs”), all of which ended in -e, with the final -ri then viewed as a suffix.

Research into 上代特殊仮名遣い (jōdai tokushu kanazukai, “ancient special spellings”) clarified the -e vowel value as ⟨e₁⟩, showing that the original form could not have been the 已然形 (izenkei, “realis form”) that ended in ⟨e₂⟩. Ancient ⟨e₁⟩ was also known to appear from fusion of -i and a-, and this revealed the much simpler original structure of a verb in the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) for either quadrigrade or sa-irregular verbs + あり (ari).

Originally denoted ongoing state or action, or the resulting state of an action. The sense later shifted to indicate the completion of an action.

Suffix

り • (-ri) ^†-ri

1. (Classical Japanese, jodōshi) Used to form the stative of verbs.
   • 1952, 凡例 (usage guide) of the 修訂大日本国語辞典

     撥(はつ)音(おん)の「ん」は最(さい)終(しゆう)に置(お)けり

     hatsuon no “n” wa saishū ni okeri

     the moraic nasal “ん” has been placed at the end

     今(こん)回(くわい)の新(しん)裝(さう)版(ばん)には之(これ)を省(しやう)略(りやく)せり

     konkai no shinsōban ni wa kore o shōryaku seri

     they have been omitted in this newly bound edition

See also

• たり (tari)