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

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

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 511, character 11
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 14459
• Dae Jaweon: page 895, character 9
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 2, page 1162, character 8
• Unihan data for U+674E

• Unihan data for U+F9E1

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Chinese

trad.		李
simp. #		李

Glyph origin

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

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

	Old Chinese
孜	*ʔslɯ
仔	*ʔslɯ, *ʔslɯʔ
孖	*ʔslɯ, *zlɯs
子	*ʔslɯʔ
虸	*ʔslɯʔ
耔	*ʔslɯʔ
秄	*ʔslɯʔ
杍	*ʔslɯʔ
籽	*ʔslɯʔ
字	*zlɯs
茡	*zlɯs
芓	*zlɯs
牸	*zlɯs
李	*rɯʔ

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).

Definitions

(deprecated template usage) 李

1. plum (tree and fruit)
2. ^† (deprecated template usage) 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.

Descendants

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

References

• “李”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• “Entry #3231”, in 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2024.

(deprecated template usage)

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Japanese

Kanji

李

(Jinmeiyō kanji)

Readings

• Go-on: り (ri)
• Kan-on: り (ri)
• Kun: すもも (sumomo, 李)
• Nanori: もも (momo)、い (i)

Compounds

• 行(こう)李(り) (kōri)

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
李
Jinmeiyō
kun'yomi

Alternative spelling
酸桃

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

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) すもも [sùmómó] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [sɨmo̞mo̞]

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

Derived terms

• 西洋(せいよう)李(すもも) (seiyō sumomo), 西洋(せいよう)酸(す)桃(もも) (seiyō sumomo)
• 紅(べに)葉(ば)李(すもも) (beniba sumomo)
• 干(ほ)し李(すもも) (hoshi sumomo)

Etymology 2

From Middle Chinese 李 (MC liX).

Affix

李(り) • (ri) 

1. plum

Derived terms

• 李花(りか) (rika)
• 李下(りか) (rika)
• 回(かい)李(り), 廻(かい)李(り) (kairi)
• 桃(とう)李(り) (tōri)

 

Proper noun

李(リ) or 李(proper) or 李(り) • (ri or proper) [[Category:Japanese
|り]]

1. Japanese reading of the Chinese or Korean surname

李(リー) or 李(proper) or 李(りい) • (rī or proper) [[Category:Japanese
|りい]]

1. Japanese reading of the Chinese surname

李(イ) or 李(proper) or 李(い) • (i or proper) [[Category:Japanese
|い]]

1. Japanese reading of the South Korean surname

Derived terms

• 李(り)朝(ちょう) (Richō)
• 李詩(りし) (rishi)

 

Further reading

• Entry at Nihon Jiten (in Japanese)
• Entry at Gogen Allguide (in Japanese)

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Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 李 (MC liX).

Historical readings

• Recorded as Middle Korean 링〯 (Yale: lǐ) in Dongguk Jeongun (東國正韻 / 동국정운), 1448.
• Recorded as Middle Korean 니〯 (nǐ) (Yale: nǐ) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

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)
  • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [ɾi]
  • Phonetic hangul: [리]

Hanja

Wikisource

李 (eumhun 오얏나무 리 (oyannamu ri), word-initial (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

Compounds

• 이관/리관 (李官, igwan/rigwan)
• 이화/리화 (李花, ihwa/rihwa)
• 도리 (桃李, dori)
• 우리 (牛李, uri)
• 욱리 (郁李, ungni)
• 저리 (楮李, jeori)
• 행리 (行李, haengni)
• 이하부정관/리하부정관 (李下不整冠, ihabujeonggwan/rihabujeonggwan)

References

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [2]

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Vietnamese

Han character

李: Hán Nôm readings: lí, lý

1. a Vietnamese surname
2. a unisex given name

References

• Nom Foundation