沥 (lì): to drip, to strain or filter, a trickle

沥 (lì) is a Chinese character meaning “to drip.” Outside the HSK 3.0 syllabus (CLEC 2022), it is composed of 氵 (semantic) and 历 (phonetic). It ranks #3385 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 沥 water. Its radical form 氵 (water) appears in many related characters such as 河 (hé, river), 海 (hǎi, sea), 洋 (yáng, ocean).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to drip
  2. to strain or filter
  3. a trickle

Etymology & Origin

沥

pictophoneticwater

Decomposition: ⿰氵历 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Practice writing 沥 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
沥青nounlì qīngasphalt
呕心沥血phraseǒu xīn lì xuèlit. to spit out one's heart and spill blood (idiom)
沥水架lì shuǐ jiàdish rack
沥干lì gānto drain
沥青铀矿nounlì qīng yóu kuàngpitchblende (uranium ore)
披肝沥胆phrasepī gān lì dǎn(idiom) to be completely honest and sincere
剖肝沥胆pōu gān lì dǎnsee 披肝瀝膽|披肝沥胆
滴沥dī lìto drip (of rainwater)
淅沥xī lì(onom.) patter of rain
9
Total compounds
44
As first character
22
As last character
33
As middle character

沥 appears in 9 compound words: 44 as the first character, 22 as the last, and 33 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Idioms & Chengyu (3)

呕心沥血ǒuxīnlìxuè

determination and hard work; put your blood, sweat and tears into it

phrase
披肝沥胆pīgānlìdǎn

to pour one's heart out; to talk without reserve; to have a heart-to-heart talk

phrase
剖肝沥胆pōu gān lì dǎn

see 披肝瀝膽|披肝沥胆

phrase

Example Sentences

中国新闻网·生活Aug 2026

蔬菜出锅之后沥干水分,加点蒸鱼豉油或生抽,淋上香油或亚麻籽油,就是美味的一道菜啦!

shū cài chū guō zhī hòu lì gān shuǐ fēn , jiā diǎn zhēng yú 豉 yóu huò shēng chōu , lín shàng xiāng yóu huò yà má zǐ yóu , jiù shì měi wèi de yī dào cài la !

Once the vegetables are done cooking, drain them, add a little steamed fish soy sauce or light soy sauce, and drizzle with sesame oil or flaxseed oil—and you’ve got a delicious dish!

中国新闻网·体育Aug 2026

除了个别安全细节可能需要一两处微调外,整体线路布局非常有趣,沥青铺设也极为完美。

chú le gè bié ān quán xì jié kě néng xū yào yī liǎng chǔ wēi diào wài , zhěng tǐ xiàn lù bù jú fēi cháng yǒu qù , lì qīng pù shè yě jí wéi wán měi .

Aside from a few minor safety details that might need a tweak or two, the overall track layout is very interesting, and the asphalt paving is absolutely flawless.

中国新闻网·文化Aug 2026

当我们抵达位于吉木萨尔县以北约12公里的北庭故城时,小雨仍在淅淅沥沥地下着。

dāng wǒ men dǐ dá wèi yú jí mù sà ěr xiàn yǐ běi yuē 1 2 gōng lǐ de běi tíng gù chéng shí , xiǎo yǔ réng zài 淅 淅 lì lì dì xià zhe .

When we arrived at the ancient city of Beiting, located about 12 kilometers north of Jimusar County, a light rain was still falling.

奇客SolidotAug 2026

城市由于黑色沥青和混凝土吸收太阳辐射而变得比周边地区更热。

chéng shì yóu yú hēi sè lì qīng hé hùn níng tǔ xī shōu tài yáng fú shè ér biàn dé bǐ zhōu biān dì qū gèng rè .

Cities become hotter than their surrounding areas because black asphalt and concrete absorb solar radiation.

少数派Aug 2026

扇形暖光漫开,照亮这一方角落,伴着淅沥雨声,很容易沉入心流,一切都刚刚好。

shān xíng nuǎn guāng màn kāi , zhào liàng zhè yī fāng jiǎo luò , bàn zhe 淅 lì yǔ shēng , hěn róng yì chén rù xīn liú , yī qiē dōu gāng gāng hǎo .

A warm, fan-shaped glow spreads out, illuminating this little corner. Accompanied by the patter of rain, it’s easy to lose oneself in the flow of the moment—everything feels just right.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 氵 (water) component

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 沥 (lì) mean in Chinese?
沥 (lì) primarily means "to drip." It is not part of the HSK 3.0 syllabus. It ranks #3385 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 沥 have?
沥 is written with 7 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 沥?
The radical associated with 沥 is 氵 (water). This radical appears in many characters related to water.
What are the components of 沥?
沥 is composed of: 氵 (semantic), 历 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰氵历 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 沥?
Common words with 沥 include: 沥青 (lì qīng, "asphalt"); 呕心沥血 (ǒu xīn lì xuè, "lit. to spit out one's heart and spill blood (idiom)"); 沥水架 (lì shuǐ jià, "dish rack"); 沥干 (lì gān, "to drain"); 沥青铀矿 (lì qīng yóu kuàng, "pitchblende (uranium ore)"). There are over 9 compound words containing this character.
Is 沥 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 沥 and the traditional form is 瀝.

Practice writing 沥 with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.