吏

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See also: 史 and 更
吏 U+540F, 吏
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-540F
← 后
 		CJK Unified Ideographs 吐 →

吏 U+F9DE, 吏
CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-F9DE
← 利
 		CJK Compatibility Ideographs 履 →

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)

Derived characters

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

Chinese

simp. and trad.
 吏
alternative forms 叓

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

Alternative descendant of 叓, which is also the ancient form of 事.

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

Note:
  • lī/lē - literary;
  • lē - vernacular (俗, Xiamen).
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
Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 吏
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin) 		lì
Middle
Chinese 		‹ liH ›
Old
Chinese 		/*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. * 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

吏

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

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

吏

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

  1. (historical) petty official (low-ranking public servant)

Usage notes

Whereas high-ranking government officials are referred to as 官 (kan), low-ranking ones are called 吏 (ri).

Readings

References

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 吏 (MC liH). Recorded as Middle Korean 리〯 (lǐ) (Yale: li) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

Wikisource

吏 (eumhun 벼슬아치 리 (byeoseurachi ri), South Korea 벼슬아치 이 (byeoseurachi i))

  1. Hanja form? of 리/이 (“government official”).

Compounds

Compounds

References

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

Vietnamese

Han character

吏: Hán Nôm readings: lại, lưỡi

  1. (only in compound quan lại) chữ Hán form of lại (“government official”).
  2. Nôm form of lại (“again”).

References

  1. ^ Viện Nghiên cứu Hán Nôm.
  2. ^ Hồ (1976).
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