吏

See also: 史 and 更

Translingual

Han character

吏 (Kangxi radical 30, 口+3, 6 strokes, cangjie input 十中大 (JLK), four-corner 5000₆, composition ⿻一史 or ⿻丈口)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 176, character 2
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 3299
• Dae Jaweon: page 393, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 18, character 3
• Unihan data for U+540F

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Chinese

simp. and trad.		吏

Glyph origin

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

Characters in the same phonetic series (史) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
吏	*rɯs
倳	*ʔsrɯs
剚	*ʔsrɯs
事	*ʔsrɯs, *zrɯs
史	*srɯʔ
使	*srɯʔ, *srɯs
駛	*srɯʔ, *srɯs

Etymology

See 理 (lǐ, “envoy, jail official, matchmaker”).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): lì (li⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄌㄧˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): lei⁶
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): lī / lē

  (Teochew, Peng'im): li⁷

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: lì
    • Zhuyin: ㄌㄧˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: lì
    • Wade–Giles: li⁴
    • Yale: lì
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: lih
    • Palladius: ли (li)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /li⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: lei⁶
    • Yale: leih
    • Cantonese Pinyin: lei⁶
    • Guangdong Romanization: léi⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /lei̯²²/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: lī
    • Tâi-lô: lī
    • Phofsit Daibuun: li
    • IPA (Taipei, Kaohsiung): /li³³/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /li⁴¹/
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /li²²/
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou, Xiamen)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: lē
    • Tâi-lô: lē
    • Phofsit Daibuun: le
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /le⁴¹/
    • IPA (Xiamen): /le²²/

Note:

• lī/lē - literary;
• lē - vernacular (俗, Xiamen).

• (Teochew)
  • Peng'im: li⁷
  • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: lī
  • Sinological IPA ^(key): /li¹¹/

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• Middle Chinese: liH

Rime
Character	吏
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	來 (37)
Final (韻)	之 (19)
Tone (調)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	III
Fanqie	力置切
Baxter	liH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/lɨH/
Pan Wuyun	/lɨH/
Shao Rongfen	/lieH/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/lɨH/
Li Rong	/liəH/
Wang Li	/lĭəH/
Bernard Karlgren	/liH/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	lì
Expected Cantonese Reflex	lei6

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*[r]əʔ-s/

  (Zhengzhang): /*rɯs/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	吏
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	lì
Middle Chinese	‹ liH ›
Old Chinese	/*[r]əʔ-s/
English	officer
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	吏
Reading #	1/1
No.	11482
Phonetic component	史
Rime group	之
Rime subdivision	0
Corresponding MC rime	吏
Old Chinese	/*rɯs/
Notes	史轉註字

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 吏

1. (historical) government official
2. (historical) petty official
3. a surname

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Japanese

Kanji

吏

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

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Readings

• On (unclassified): り (ri, Jōyō)
• Kun: つかさ (tsukasa, 吏)

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Korean

Hanja

吏 • (ri) (hangeul 리, revised ri, McCune–Reischauer ri)

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Compounds

• • 吏讀 (이두, itwu or idu)

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Vietnamese

Han character

吏: Hán Nôm readings: lại, lưỡi

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