李

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

Chinese

Glyph origin

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

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).

Pronunciation

Definitions

李

1. plum (tree and fruit)
2. ^† 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   ―  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.

Synonyms

Descendants

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

Compounds

References

• “李”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• “Entry #3231”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2023.

Japanese

Kanji

(“Jinmeiyō” kanji used for names)

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

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

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) すもも (Heiban – )
• IPA^(key):

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

Etymology 2

From Middle Chinese 李 (MC liX).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key):

Affix

李(り) • (ri) 

1. plum

Derived terms

Proper noun

李(リ) or 李(り) • (Ri) 

1. Japanese reading of the Chinese or Korean surname

李(リー) or 李(りい) • (Rī) 

1. Japanese reading of the Chinese surname

李(イ) or 李(い) • (I) 

1. Japanese reading of the South Korean surname

Derived terms

References

Further reading

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

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 李 (MC liX).

Pronunciation

• (initial position)
  • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key):
  • Phonetic hangul:
    • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.
• (non-initial position)
  • (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key):
  • Phonetic hangul:

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

李

Wikisource

李 (eumhun 오얏나무 리 (oyannamu ri), 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

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

李: Hán Nôm readings: lí, lý

1. chữ Hán form of Lý (“a surname from Chinese.”).

   李公蘊 ― Lý Công Uẩn

2. a unisex given name

References

• Nom Foundation