利

Translingual

Stroke order

Etymology

Historical forms of the character 利
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Bamboo and silk script	Large seal script	Small seal script

Ideogrammic compound (會意): 禾 ‎(“grain”) + 刀 ‎(“knife”) – to reap grain (禾) with a knife (刀).

Han character

利 (radical 18 刀+5, 7 strokes, cangjie input 竹木中弓 (HDLN), four-corner 2290₀, composition ⿰禾刂)

1. gains, advantage, profit, merit

Derived characters

• 痢 悧 梨

Descendants

• り
• リ

References

• KangXi: page 138, character 19
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 1932
• Dae Jaweon: page 313, character 8
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 329, character 2
• Unihan data for U+5229

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Chinese

simp. and trad.		利

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): lì (li⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄌㄧˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): lei⁶
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): li
• Min Nan (POJ): lāi / lī

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese, Beijing)⁺
    • Pinyin: lì
    • Zhuyin: ㄌㄧˋ
    • Wade-Giles: lih⁴
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: lih
    • IPA ^(key): /li⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou)⁺
    • Jyutping: lei⁶
    • Yale: leih
    • Cantonese Pinyin: lei⁶
    • IPA ^(key): /lei̯²²/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: li
    • Hakka Romanization System: li
    • Hagfa Pinyim: li⁴
    • IPA: /li⁵⁵/
• Min Nan
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: lāi / lī
    • Tâi-lô: lāi / lī
    • Phofsit Daibuun: lai, li
    • IPA (Taipei): /laɪ³³/, /li³³/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /laɪ²²/, /li²²/

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• Middle Chinese: /liɪ^H/▼

Rime
Character	利
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	來 (37)
Final (韻)	脂 (15)
Tone (調)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	III
Fanqie	力至切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/liɪH/
Pan Wuyun	/liH/
Shao Rongfen	/ljɪH/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/liH/
Li Rong	/liH/
Wang Li	/liH/
Bernard Karlgren	/liH/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	lì

• Old Chinese▼

  (Baxter-Sagart): /*C.ri[t]-s/

  (Zhengzhang): /*rids/

Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	利
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	lì
Middle Chinese	‹ lijH ›
Old Chinese	/*C.ri[t]-s/
English	sharp; profit
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	利
Reading #	1/1
No.	7898
Phonetic component	利
Rime group	至
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	利
Old Chinese	/*rids/

Noun

利

1. advantage, benefit
2. interest

Compounds

• 利弊 (lìbì)
• 利滾利／利滚利
• 利令智昏
• 利潤／利润 (lìrùn)
• 利用 (lìyòng)
• 利上滾利／利上滚利
• 利欲熏心
• 利益 (lìyì)
• 利誘／利诱
• 利於／利于 (lìyú)

Verb

利

1. to benefit

Compounds

• 利己 (lìjǐ)
• 利己主義／利己主义 (lìjǐzhǔyì)

Adjective

利

1. sharp

Compounds

• 利鈍／利钝
• 利剑 (lìjiàn)
• 利刃
• 利器 (lìqì)
• 便利店 (biànlìdiàn, “convenience store”)
• 利比亞／利比亚 (Lìbǐyà, “Libya”)
• 利便 (lìbiàn)
• 利病
• 利害 (lìhài)
• 利口 (lìkǒu)
• 利率 (lìlǜ)
• 利落 (lìluo)
• 利尿 (lìniào)
• 利權／利权
• 利索 (lìsuǒ)
• 利息 (lìxī)
• 利息率 (lìxilǜ)
• 利嘴

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Japanese

Kanji

利

(grade 4 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings

• Goon: り (ri)
• Kan’on: り (ri)
• Kun: きく (kiku), よい (yoi), するどい (surudoi)

Compounds

砂利 (じゃり) ‎(jari, “gravel; child”), 砂利 (ざり) ‎(zari, “gravel”) 利益 (りえき) ‎(rieki) 利害 (りがい) ‎(rigai) 利権 (りけん) ‎(riken) 利己 (りこ) ‎(riko) 利口 (りこう) ‎(rikō) 利子 (りし) ‎(rishi, “interest”) 利鞘 (りざや) ‎(rizaya, “profit margin”) 利息 (りそく) ‎(risoku, “interest”) 利発 (りはつ) ‎(rihatsu) 利便 (りべん) ‎(riben) 利便性 (りべんせい) ‎(ribensei)

利用者 (りようしゃ) ‎(riyōsha) 利用 (りよう) ‎(riyō) 利率 (りりつ) ‎(riritsu, “interest rate”) 営利 (えいり) ‎(eiri) 鋭利 (えいり) ‎(eiri) 元利 (がんり) ‎(ganri) 権利 (けんり) ‎(kenri) 功利 (こうり) ‎(kōri) 功利的 (こうりてき) ‎(kōriteki) 功利主義 (こうりしゅぎ) ‎(kōrishugi) 高利 (こうり) ‎(kōri)

高利貸 (こうりが)し ‎(kōrigashi) 犀利 (さいり) ‎(sairi) 薄利 (はくり) ‎(hakuri) 福利 (ふくり) ‎(fukuri) 複利 (ふくり) ‎(fukuri) 暴利 (ぼうり) ‎(bōri) 利尻島 (りしりとう) ‎(Rishiri-tō)

Etymology

Kanji in this term
利
り Grade: 4
on'yomi

From Middle Chinese 利 ‎(lij^H, “profit”).

Pronunciation

• On'yomi
• (Tokyo) り​ [ríꜜ] (Atamadaka - [1])
• IPA^(key): [ɾi]

Noun

利 ‎(hiragana り, romaji ri)

1. profit, benefit

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Korean

Hanja

利 • ‎(ri, i) (hangeul 리, 이, revised ri, i, McCune-Reischauer ri, i)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

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Vietnamese

Han character

利 (lợi, lời, lì)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.