厘 (lí): Li (c. 2000 BC), sixth of the legendary Flame Emperors 炎帝 descended from Shennong 神農|神农 Farmer God, also known as Ai 哀, one hundredth, centi-

厘 (lí) is a Chinese character meaning “one hundredth.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 厂 (semantic) and 里 (phonetic). It ranks #2206 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, 厘 workshop. Its radical form 厂 (cliff) appears in many related characters such as 原 (yuán, former), 厂 (chǎng, factory), 历 (lì, to experience).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. Li (c. 2000 BC), sixth of the legendary Flame Emperors 炎帝 descended from Shennong 神農|神农 Farmer God, also known as Ai 哀
  2. one hundredth
  3. centi-

Etymology & Origin

厘

pictophoneticworkshop

Decomposition: ⿸厂里 (layout: surround-from-upper-left)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 厘

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
厘米measurelí mǐcentimeter5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
巴厘岛bā lí dǎoBali (island in Indonesia)
公厘measuregōng límillimeter
失之毫厘,差以千里shī zhī háo lí , chà yǐ qiān lǐa tiny lapse can lead to a huge mistake (idiom)
差之毫厘,失之千里chā zhī háo lí , shī zhī qiān lǐthe slightest difference leads to a huge loss (idiom)
失之毫厘,差之千里shī zhī háo lí , chà zhī qiān lǐa tiny lapse can lead to a huge mistake (idiom)
立方厘米lì fāng lí mǐcubic centimeter
无厘头adjectivewú lí tóusilly talk or "mo lei tau" (Cantonese), genre of humor emerging from Hong Kong late in the 20th century
车厘子nounchē lí zi(loanword) sweet cherry
失之毫厘,谬以千里shī zhī háo lí , miù yǐ qiān lǐa tiny lapse can lead to a huge mistake (idiom)
差之毫厘,谬以千里chā zhī háo lí , miù yǐ qiān lǐthe slightest difference leads to a huge error (idiom)
毫厘不爽háo lí bù shuǎngnot to deviate an iota (idiom)
厘金nounlí jīna form of transit taxation in China introduced to finance armies to suppress the Taiping Rebellion
厘清verblí qīngto clarify (the facts)
厘克lí kècentigram
市厘shì líli (Chinese unit of length equal to ⅓ millimeter)
24
Total compounds
29
As first character
29
As last character
42
As middle character

厘 appears in 24 compound words: 29 as the first character, 29 as the last, and 42 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 厘 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

褪tuì
0.75811 co-occurrences
米mǐ
0.66145,520 co-occurrences
宽kuān
0.5553,994 co-occurrences
眠mián
0.54911 co-occurrences
榜bǎng
0.47010 co-occurrences
含hán
0.44911 co-occurrences
厚hòu
0.4461,332 co-occurrences
素sù
0.40711 co-occurrences
径jìng
0.403786 co-occurrences
茎jīng
0.395136 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (2)

毫厘不爽háo lí bù shuǎngHSK 7+

not to deviate an iota (idiom); to be extremely accurate

phrase
析毫剖厘xī háo pōu líHSK 7+

to analyze in the finest detail

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

我在字典里查到了厘字的详细解释。

wǒ zài zì diǎn lǐ chá dào le lí zì de xiáng xì xiè shì .

I looked up the detailed explanation of the character "厘" in the dictionary.

Intimes NewsFeb 2026

遭受洪水袭击 峇厘岛数百人紧急撤离

zāo shòu hóng shuǐ xí jī 峇 lí dǎo shǔ bǎi rén jǐn jí chè lí

Flooded hundreds of people in Bali were evacuated urgently

马来西亚诗华日报新闻网Feb 2026

婆罗洲会展中心外严重车祸 两罗厘猛撞2人重伤

pó luó zhōu huì zhǎn zhōng xīn wài yán chóng chē huò liǎng luó lí měng zhuàng 2 rén chóng shāng

A serious car accident outside the Borneo Convention and Exhibition Center Two Luoli slammed into two people and seriously injured them

中国军网Feb 2026

特稿丨厘清建设军事理论内容体系的实践路径

tè gǎo 丨 lí qīng jiàn shè jūn shì lǐ lùn nèi róng tǐ xì de shí jiàn lù jìng

Special Article丨Clarify the practical path of building a military theoretical content system

中国新闻网_梳理天下新闻Feb 2026

头孢停药三天能饮酒?车厘子含褪黑素可助眠?科学流言榜最新辟谣

tóu 孢 tíng yào sān tiān néng yǐn jiǔ ? chē lí zǐ hán 褪 hēi sù kě zhù mián ? kē xué liú yán bǎng zuì xīn pì yáo

Can you drink alcohol after stopping cephalosporin medication for three days? Can cherries contain melatonin to help you sleep? The latest rumors on the scientific rumor list

公視新聞網 PnnFeb 2026

北港黄狗疑遭饲主高处丢下 警厘清其犯案动机

běi gǎng huáng gǒu yí zāo sì zhǔ gāo chǔ diū xià jǐng lí qīng qí fàn àn dòng jī

The Beigang yellow dog was suspected of being dropped by the owner at a height, and the police clarified his motive for committing the crime

Tatoeba

失之毫厘,谬之千里。

Shī zhī háolí, miù zhī qiān lǐ.

Slight inattention can cause a great disaster.

Tatoeba

12月份巴厘岛极其炎热和潮湿。

12 yuèfèn Bālí Dǎo jíqí yánrè hé cháoshī.

It is extremely hot and humid in Bali in December.

Tatoeba

我的哥哥比我大两岁,但他却比我矮三厘米。

Wǒ de gēge bǐ wǒ dà liǎng suì, dàn tā què bǐ wǒ ǎi sān límǐ.

My brother is two years older than me, but three centimeters shorter.

Character Family

Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 厂 (workshop) component

厂 Radical Family — Characters sharing the cliff radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced lí

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 厘 (lí) mean in Chinese?
厘 (lí) primarily means "one hundredth." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #2206 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 厘 and 埋?
厘 (lí) and 埋 (mái) are often confused. confusable. The key distinguishing feature: 厂 vs 土 (same 里 component).
How many strokes does 厘 have?
厘 is written with 9 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 厘?
The radical associated with 厘 is 厂 (cliff). This radical appears in many characters related to cliff.
What are the components of 厘?
厘 is composed of: 厂 (semantic), 里 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿸厂里 with a surround-from-upper-left layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 厘?
Common words with 厘 include: 厘米 (lí mǐ, "centimeter"); 巴厘岛 (bā lí dǎo, "Bali (island in Indonesia)"); 公厘 (gōng lí, "millimeter"); 失之毫厘,差以千里 (shī zhī háo lí , chà yǐ qiān lǐ, "a tiny lapse can lead to a huge mistake (idiom)"); 差之毫厘,失之千里 (chā zhī háo lí , shī zhī qiān lǐ, "the slightest difference leads to a huge loss (idiom)"). There are over 24 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 厘 (lí)?
Several characters share the pronunciation lí: 理 (texture), 狸 (raccoon dog), 里 (lining), 力 (power), and 4 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 厘 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 厘 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 厘 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.