Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word li. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word li, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say li in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word li you have here. The definition of the word li will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofli, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
It was a whole day's journey from I-ch'eng to Chü-wo which, in turn, is about 60 li east of Chiang Chou — one of the most important cities in southern Shansi and a center for curio-dealers.
1999 [1994], Heng (邹衡) Zou, “The Early Jin State Capital Discovered: a Personal Account”, in Roderick Whitfield, Wang Tao, transl., Exploring China's Past: New Discoveries and Studies in Archaeology and Art, Saffron Books, Eastern Art Publishing, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 106:
In 1979, while we were conducting our archaeological work in Yucheng and Quwo, Shanxi province, I noticed another historical record in the Kuodizhi (a comprehensive account of geography written in 641), which stated that "the ancient city of Tang was 20 li west of Yuchengxian in Jiangzhou."
2000, Shui-Bian Chen, “Learning and Transformation”, in David J. Toman, transl., The Son of Taiwan: The Life of Chen Shui-Bian and His Dreams for Taiwan, Taiwan Publishing Co., Ltd., →ISBN, →OCLC, page 40:
The two gods who accompany Matsu, one with eyes that can see 1000 li⁶ and the other with ears that can hear far over the horizon, represent empathy, observation, and feeling. Government should be like Matsu, equipped with acute powers of observation; see clearly to the bottom of issues, and know how to respond.
For more quotations using this term, see Citations:li.
While scaling the Laoyeling Mountains, the Chinese Worker-Peasant Red Army, under the command of Mao Ze-dong and Zhu De, was successfully stepping up the historic 25 000-li Long March in China proper, breaking through the surrounding rings formed by Chiang Kai-shek’s army.
Orel suggests from South Slavic, compare Serbo-Croatianlȉh(“exclusive”), lȋh(“false, odd”), Slovenelȋh(“uneven, odd”). However, generally thought to be from Ancient Greekεὐλογία(eulogía) "blessing", with a euphemistic sense development. Compare e.g. the euphemistic synonym "e lume" (the happy/blessed one)
^ Orel, Vladimir E. (1998) “lijë”, in Albanian Etymological Dictionary, Leiden, Boston, Köln: Brill, →ISBN, page 227
^ Eqrem Çabej, Studime etimologjike në fushë të shqipes, Akademia e Shkencave e RPS të Shqipërisë, Instituti i Gjuhësisë dhe i Letërsisë, 1996, page 168
^ Eqrem Çabej, Studime Filologjike, Akademia e Shkencave e RPSSH, Instituti i Gjuhësisë dje i Letërsisë., 1990, page 99
^ Eqrem Çabej, Studime gjuhësore: Nga historia e gjuhës shqipe, Rilindja, 1977, page 22
Li is traditionally used as both a masculine and a gender-neutral pronoun, but since the 1970s generic usage has sometimes been criticized and is increasingly being avoided and replaced by "li aŭ ŝi". Some people think this is an imperfect solution which is inappropriately long. In response to such criticisms, there have been various proposals for new pronouns, but the only proposal that has been gaining some adoption is ri.
As an unstressed clitic, it does not trigger syntactic gemination of the following consonant. It also actively blocks syntactic gemination of its initial consonant, such as after a word like però(“but”) that would normally trigger syntactic gemination. (This does not apply to the enclitic form -li, e.g. dalliame(“give them to me”).)
Third person pronominal forms used as formal terms of address to refer to second person subjects (with the first letter frequently capitalised as a sign of respect, and to distinguish them from third person subjects). Unlike the singular forms, the plural forms are mostly antiquated terms of formal address in the modern language, and second person plural pronouns are almost always used instead.
2
Also used as indefinite pronoun meaning “one”, and to form the passive.
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “May be unrelated to French "il" or "lui".”)
From Arabicاَلَّذِي(allaḏī, relative pronoun). Compare common dialectal Arabicاللي(illi, lli). The use as a conjunction is widely found in Maghrebi Arabic, so there is no reason to consider it a Romance influence (as might otherwise be thought; compare Italianche, which is both a relative pronoun and the conjunction “that”).
Dan huwa r-raġel li seraq il-karozza. ― That’s the man who stole the car.
Din hija ħaġa li tħawwadni. ― This is something that confuses me.
Usage notes
Unlike standard Arabic, the relative pronoun is normally used also with indefinite referents (example sentence 2). However, it is optional in this case.
Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.
Forms in italics are currently considered non-standard. Forms in were official, but considered second-tier. Forms in (parentheses) were allowed under Midlandsnormalen. 1Nouns were capitalised for most of the 19th century.
^ Boryś, Wiesław (2005) “li”, in Słownik etymologiczny języka polskiego (in Polish), Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, →ISBN
^ Bańkowski, Andrzej (2000) “li”, in Etymologiczny słownik języka polskiego [Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language] (in Polish)
Maria Renata Mayenowa, Stanisław Rospond, Witold Taszycki, Stefan Hrabec, Władysław Kuraszkiewicz (2010-2023) chapter LI, in Słownik Polszczyzny XVI Wieku [A Dictionary of 16th Century Polish]
Further reading
li in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
pokušaš li me napasti, ja ću ti uzvratiti ― should you try to attack me, I'll strike you back (when "li" is used in this sense, it is usually translated as a subjunctive form "should", and when "ako" is used, it is usually translated as "if" - ako me pokušaš napasti = if you try to attack me)
used as an emphatic intensifier
a sn(ij)eg pada li pada ― the snow just keeps falling and falling...
d(ij)ete plače li plače ― the child just keeps crying and crying...
This article is nowadays an obsolete variant, unlike its illiquid counterpart i. It is currently used only in some restricted areas where it is still withheld in conversational communications.
Today it is mostly used in crystallized contexts, such as singing, poetry or sayings and proverbs. In all these cases this definite article is more euphonetic than the variants, now predominant, which have undergone the lenition of the initial liquid consonant.
Its use is however almost undisputed before nouns (or nominalized forms of other parts of speech, most often adjectives) that begin with vowels. In this case the form is an apocopic l'. Otherwise, illiquid definite articles are phonetically absorbed by the following noun. I.e: l'arancini (liquid) and ârancini (illiquid).
This pronoun is now an obsolete variant. It is currently used only in some restricted areas where it is still withheld in conversational communications.
Today it is mostly used in crystallized contexts, such as singing, poetry or sayings and proverbs. In all these cases this definite article is more euphonetic than the variants, now predominant, which have undergone the lenition of the initial liquid consonant.
Its use is however almost undisputed before words that begin with vowels. In this case the form is an apocopic l'.
Since this is a defective verb, it does not have many conjugations, and the remaining conjugations needed are constructed using -ba as an auxiliary verb. For example, the 1st person singular negative remote past of -li is nkabantali(literally, “I was not being”).
This verb removes the augment of the noun after it (e.g. ndimanzi, not *ndi emanzi "I am a courageous person").
The 3rd person singular present and 3rd person plural present forms are usually only used after a locative class or a place name. In other cases, the noun is almost always left augmentless (e.g. muntu "he/she is a person").