(): strict, severe

() is a Chinese character meaning “strict.” Classified as HSK Level 4 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (structural) and (structural). It ranks #1331 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. strict
  2. severe

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
adjectivelì hai(used to describe sb or sth that makes a very strong impression, whether favorable or unfavorable) terrible4
adjectiveyán lìsevere6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
biàn běn jiā lìlit. change to more severe (idiom)
zài jiē zài lìto continue the struggle (idiom)
líng lìswift and fierce
lì guǐmalicious spirit
qī lìmournful (sound)
léi lì fēng xíngpass like thunder and move like the wind (idiom)
bù míng jué lìalthough I don't understand it, it seems pretty awesome (Internet slang)
lì mù ér shìto cut sb a severe look (idiom)
zhèng yán lì sèsolemn in word and countenance (idiom)
lì xíng jié yuēto practice strict economy (idiom)
yán lì dǎ jīto strike a severe blow
lì xíngto do (sth) with rigor
lì shēngstern voice
sè lì cí yánsevere in both looks and speech (idiom)
zhèng yán lì sèsolemn in countenance (idiom)
28
Total compounds
21
As first character
54
As last character
25
As middle character

appears in 28 compound words: 21 as the first character, 54 as the last, and 25 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.

Strongest Collocations

Characters that most frequently co-occur with in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

yán
0.69920,135 co-occurrences
chéng
0.5461,080 co-occurrences
qiǎn
0.515846 co-occurrences
0.5071,512 co-occurrences
píng
0.4834,023 co-occurrences
hài
0.4653,516 co-occurrences
0.4584,683 co-occurrences
chì
0.431599 co-occurrences
0.42978 co-occurrences
pēng
0.425216 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (10)

biànběnjiālìHSK 4+

to get worse; to become aggravated; to intensify one's effort to do something wrong

verb
bùmíngjuélìHSK 4+

Although I don't know what you are saying or doing, I think you are (or it is) amazing.

phrase
fā yáng dǎo lìHSK 5+

see 發揚踔厲|发扬踔厉[fa1 yang2 chuo1 li4]

phrase
léilìfēngxíngHSK 6+

vigorously and speedily; vigorously and resolutely; swift and decisive

phrase
lìxíngjiéyuēHSK 4+

to practise strict economy

phrase
zàijiēzàilìHSK 4+

to make persistent efforts; to redouble one's efforts; to keep up one's good work

phrase
zhèng yán lì sèHSK 4+

solemn in word and countenance (idiom); strict and unsmiling; also written 正顏厲色|正颜厉色

phrase
zhèng yán lì sèHSK 4+

solemn in countenance (idiom); strict and unsmiling

phrase
fā yáng chuō lìHSK 4+

to be full of vigor (idiom)

phrase
sèlìnèirěnHSK 4+

to appear tough on the outside but be weak and timid on the inside

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

这个字的意思与它的部首有关。

zhè gě lì zì de yì sī yú tā de bù shǒu yǒu guān .

The meaning of the character "厉" is related to its radical.

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

中国代表在联合国人权理事会严驳斥日本等少数国家不实言论

zhōng guó dài biǎo zài lián gě guó rén quán lǐ shì huì yán lì bó chì rì běn děng shǎo shǔ guó jiā bù shí yán lùn

Chinese representatives severely refuted the false statements of Japan and a few other countries at the UN Human Rights Council

Hk01.comFeb 2026

巴拿马硬抢长和港口 中国须严回击遏制更严重“破窗效应”

bā ná mǎ yìng qiǎng cháng hé gǎng kǒu zhōng guó xū yán lì huí jī è zhì gēng yán chóng pò chuāng xiào yīng

Panama has a hard time grabbing Changhe ports, and China must fight back severely to curb the more serious "broken window effect"

EttodayFeb 2026

NBA 史上最严处分?快艇涉嫌9亿元阴阳约 美记曝雷纳德...

N B A shǐ shàng zuì yán lì chǔ fēn ? kuài tǐng shè xián 9 yì yuán yīn yáng yuē měi jì pù léi nà dé . . .

The toughest punishment in NBA history? The speedboat is suspected of 900 million yuan yin and yang contract Meiji exposed Leonard...

LtnFeb 2026

...董事长黄建智:关税战不会因此结束 恐更严

. . . dǒng shì cháng huáng jiàn zhì : guān shuì zhàn bù huì yīn cǐ jié shù kǒng gēng yán lì

... Chairman Huang Jianzhi: The tariff war will not end because of this, and it may be more severe

風傳媒Feb 2026

...去风险”转身:梅尔茨访华的核心难题—在严批评北京的同时,如何保住德国经济命脉?

. . . qù fēng xiǎn zhuǎn shēn : méi ěr 茨 fǎng huá de hé xīn nán tí — zài yán lì pī píng běi jīng de tóng shí , rú hé bǎo zhù dé guó jīng jì mìng mài ?

... "De-risk" turns: The core problem of Merz's visit to China - how to keep the lifeblood of Germany's economy while harshly criticizing Beijing?

Tatoeba

他对懒惰的人很严

Tā duì lǎnduò de rén hěn yánlì.

He is very hard on lazy people.

Tatoeba

你为什么哭得这么害?

Nǐ wèi shénme kū de zhème lìhai?

Why did you cry so much?

Tatoeba

我听说他打麻将很害。

Wǒ tīngshuō tā dǎ májiàng hěn lìhai.

I hear he is good at mahjong.

Tatoeba

我爸爸吸烟很害。

Wǒ bàba xīyān hěn lìhai.

My father is a heavy smoker.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 厉 (lì) mean in Chinese?
厉 (lì) primarily means "strict." It is classified as HSK Level 4, making it an upper-intermediate character. It ranks #1331 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 厉 have?
厉 is written with 5 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 厉?
The radical associated with 厉 is 厂 (cliff). This radical appears in many characters related to cliff.
What are the components of 厉?
厉 is composed of: 厂 (structural), 万 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿸厂万 with a surround-from-upper-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 厉?
Common words with 厉 include: 厉害 (lì hai, "(used to describe sb or sth that makes a very strong impression, whether favorable or unfavorable) terrible"); 严厉 (yán lì, "severe"); 变本加厉 (biàn běn jiā lì, "lit. change to more severe (idiom)"); 再接再厉 (zài jiē zài lì, "to continue the struggle (idiom)"); 凌厉 (líng lì, "swift and fierce"). There are over 28 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 厉 (lì)?
Several characters share the pronunciation lì: 礼 (abbr. for 禮記|礼记, Classic of Rites), 李 (plum, surname Li), 里 (lining), 理 (texture), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 厉 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 厉 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native 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.