吏 (lì): minor government official or functionary (old)
吏 (lì) is a Chinese character meaning “minor government official or functionary (old).” Classified as HSK Level 7-9 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 丈 (structural) and 口 (structural). It ranks #2247 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Definitions
- minor government official or functionary (old)
Stroke Order
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Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 官吏noun | guān lì | bureaucrat |
| 贪官污吏phrase | tān guān wū lì | grasping officials, corrupt mandarins (idiom) |
| 从吏 | cóng lì | minor official |
| 吏部proper-noun | lì bù | Ministry of Appointments (in imperial China) |
| 吏治noun | lì zhì | style of governing (of minor official) |
| 奸官污吏 | jiān guān wū lì | traitor minister and corrupt official (idiom) |
| 故吏noun | gù lì | (literary) former subordinate |
| 假吏 | jiǎ lì | acting magistrate |
| 属吏 | shǔ lì | (old) subordinate |
| 赃官污吏 | zāng guān wū lì | grasping officials, corrupt mandarins (idiom) |
| 狱吏noun | yù lì | prison guard |
| 污吏noun | wū lì | a corrupt official |
| 蠹吏 | dù lì | corrupt officials |
| 吏胥 | lì xū | minor official |
| 胥吏noun | xū lì | low-level government official (in former times) |
吏 appears in 15 compound words: 20 as the first character, 80 as the last, and 0 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 吏 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (1)
Example Sentences
孩子们吏渴了，纷纷跑到饮水机前接水。
hái zǐ men lì kě le , fēn fēn pǎo dào yǐn shuǐ jī qián jiē shuǐ .
The children were thirsty and rushed to the water cooler to fill their cups.
他们帮他建造房屋，还出手报复侮辱他的官吏。
tā men bāng tā jiàn zào fáng wū , hái chū shǒu bào fù wǔ rǔ tā de guān lì .
They helped him build a house and took action against the officials who had insulted him.
租客新居入伙4个月 业主自曝已破产恐执达吏收楼 律师教点自保
zū kè xīn jū rù huǒ 4 gè yuè yè zhǔ zì pù yǐ pò chǎn kǒng zhí dá lì shōu lóu lǜ shī jiào diǎn zì bǎo
The tenant has been in the new home for 4 months, and the owner revealed that he was bankrupt and feared that the bailiff would take over the building, and the lawyer taught him how to protect himself
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 吏 (lì) mean in Chinese?
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What characters sound the same as 吏 (lì)?
Is 吏 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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