立 (lì): to stand, to set up, to establish

立 (lì) is a Chinese character meaning “to stand.” Classified as HSK Level 5 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 亠 (structural), 丷 (structural) and 一 (structural). It ranks #197 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically pictographic, 立 a man standing on the ground 一. Its radical form 立 (stand) appears in many related characters such as 站 (zhàn, station), 童 (tóng, child), 竞 (jìng, to compete).

Spoken pronunciation

Definitions

  1. to stand
  2. to set up
  3. to establish

Etymology & Origin

立

pictographicA man standing on the ground 一

Decomposition: ⿳亠丷一 (layout: top-middle-bottom)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5

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

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with 立

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
立刻adverblì kèimmediately5
建立verbjiàn lìto establish5
独立verb/adjectivedú lìindependent5
立即adverblì jíimmediately5
立场nounlì chǎngposition6
成立verbchéng lìto establish5
设立verbshè lìto set up5
树立verbshù lìto set up6
创立verbchuàng lìto establish6
对立verbduì lìto oppose6
确立verbquè lìto establish6

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
起立verbqǐ lìto stand
立马adverblì mǎat once
州立adjectivezhōu lìstate-run
公立adjectivegōng lìpublic (e.g. school, hospital)
孤立adjectivegū lìto isolate
立正interjectionlì zhèngto stand straight
私立verbsī lìprivately-run
中立verbzhōng lìneutral
立法verblì fǎto enact laws
立案verblì ànto register (to an official organism)
站立verbzhàn lìto stand
立体adjectivelì tǐthree-dimensional
自立verbzì lìindependent
立陶宛proper-nounlì táo wǎnLithuania
国立adjectiveguó lìnational
103
Total compounds
48
As first character
49
As last character
4
As middle character

立 appears in 103 compound words: 48 as the first character, 49 as the last, and 4 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 立 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

成chéng
0.602574,208 co-occurrences
独dú
0.599143,341 co-occurrences
建jiàn
0.504319,114 co-occurrences
矗chù
0.5002,970 co-occurrences
设shè
0.498100,358 co-occurrences
陶táo
0.49424,378 co-occurrences
私sī
0.47432,628 co-occurrences
屹yì
0.4631,614 co-occurrences
法fǎ
0.463167,414 co-occurrences
创chuàng
0.44434,400 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (29)

哀毁骨立āihuǐgǔlìHSK 7+

to be emaciated with grief at one's parents' death

phrase
独立宣言dú lì xuān yánHSK 5+

Declaration of Independence

phrase
而立之年érlìzhīniánHSK 5+

thirty years old

phrase
公立学校gōnglì xuéxiàoHSK 5+

public school; state school

noun
孤立无援gūlìwúyuánHSK 6+

isolated without external support

phrase
孤立子波gūlìzǐ bōHSK 7+

soliton

noun
鹤立鸡群hèlìjīqúnHSK 7+

an outstanding person in a group of common people

phrase
建功立业jiàn gōng lì yèHSK 5+

to achieve or accomplish goals

phrase
君主立宪jūn zhǔ lì xiànHSK 7+

constitutional monarchy

phrase
立法委员lìfǎ wěiyuánHSK 6+

legislator; member of the Legislative Yuan

noun
立竿见影lìgānjiànyǐngHSK 7+

producing instant results; having immediate effect

phrase
立功赎罪lì gōng shú zuìHSK 7+

to redeem oneself; to atone

phrase

Showing 12 of 29 idioms containing 立.

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

学习立字需要反复练习,才能写得工整。

xué xí lì zì xū yāo fǎn fù liàn xí , cái néng xiě dé gōng zhěng .

Mastering the character "立" requires repeated practice to achieve neatness.

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

川普:加征15%关税立即生效 全球贸易重返不确定性时代

chuān pǔ : jiā zhēng 1 5 guān shuì lì jí shēng xiào quán qiú mào yì chóng fǎn bù què dìng xìng shí dài

Trump: The 15% tariff will take effect immediately Global trade returns to an era of uncertainty

大紀元 | 大紀元新聞網Feb 2026

世界杯商机在即 西南管理区敦促酒店业立即行动

shì jiè bēi shāng jī zài jí xī nán guǎn lǐ qū dūn cù jiǔ diàn yè lì jí háng dòng

World Cup business opportunity is imminent Southwest Management Region urges the hospitality industry to act now

東森新聞Feb 2026

立法院迁址“新地点”! 韩国瑜抛“征收圆山...

lì fǎ yuàn qiān zhǐ xīn dì diǎn ! hán guó 瑜 pāo zhēng shōu yuán shān . . .

The Legislative Yuan moved to a "new location"! Han Yu threw "expropriation of Yuanshan...

UnwireFeb 2026

Stop Killing Games 成立 NGO 组织 转型长期倡议平台推动游戏...

S t o p K i l l i n g G a m e s chéng lì N G O zǔ zhī zhuǎn xíng cháng qī chàng yì píng tái tuī dòng yóu xì . . .

Stop Killing Games Launches NGO Transformation Long-Term Initiative Platform to Drive Gaming...

百度新闻Feb 2026

预见金马|财通证券资管马晓立:厚植金融为民底色,以..

yù jiàn jīn mǎ cái tōng zhèng quàn zī guǎn mǎ xiǎo lì : hòu zhí jīn róng wéi mín de sè , yǐ . .

Foresight Golden Horse|Caitong Securities Asset Management Ma Xiaoli: Cultivate finance as the background of the people, to:

Tatoeba

为了调查物价,成立了一个委员会。

Wèile diàochá wùjià, chénglì le yī gè wěiyuánhuì.

A committee was constituted to investigate prices.

Tatoeba

瑞士是一个中立的国家。

Ruìshì shì yī gèzhōng lì de guójiā.

Switzerland is a neutral country.

Tatoeba

有些情况之下,这条规则不能成立。

Yǒuxiē qíngkuàng zhīxià, zhè tiáoguī zé bù néng chénglì.

There are some cases where the rule does not hold good.

Tatoeba

他没立遗嘱就死了。

Tā méi lì yízhǔ jiù sǐ le.

He died without a will.

Character Family

立 Radical Family — Characters sharing the stand radical

Homophones — Characters pronounced lì

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 立 (lì) mean in Chinese?
立 (lì) primarily means "to stand." It is classified as HSK Level 5, making it an advanced character. It ranks #197 in character frequency.
What's the difference between 立 and 下?
立 (lì) and 下 (xià) are often confused. antonym. The key distinguishing feature: 立 (up) vs 下 (down).
How many strokes does 立 have?
立 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 立?
The radical associated with 立 is 立 (stand). This radical appears in many characters related to stand.
What are the components of 立?
立 is composed of: 亠 (structural), 丷 (structural), 一 (structural). Its IDS decomposition is ⿳亠丷一 with a top-middle-bottom layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 立?
Common words with 立 include: 立刻 (lì kè, "immediately"); 建立 (jiàn lì, "to establish"); 独立 (dú lì, "independent"); 立即 (lì jí, "immediately"); 立场 (lì chǎng, "position"). There are over 103 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 立 (lì)?
Several characters share the pronunciation lì: 里 (lining), 理 (texture), 力 (power), 利 (sharp), and 6 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 立 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Yes, 立 is written the same way in both simplified and traditional Chinese.

Practice writing 立 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.