粒 (lì): grain, granule, pellet, particle, classifier for small round objects (peas, bullets, peanuts, pills, grains etc), (Tw) classifier for larger round objects (watermelon etc)
粒 (lì) is a Chinese character meaning “grain.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 米 (semantic) and 立 (phonetic). It ranks #1698 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 粒 grain. Its radical form 米 (rice) appears in many related characters such as 米 (mǐ, uncooked rice), 类 (lèi, kind), 精 (jīng, essence).
Definitions
- grain
- granule
- pellet
- particle
- classifier for small round objects (peas, bullets, peanuts, pills, grains etc)
- (Tw) classifier for larger round objects (watermelon etc)
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 粒 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 粒子noun | lì zǐ | (elementary) particle |
| 微粒noun | wēi lì | speck |
| 颗粒noun | kē lì | kernel |
| 暹粒proper-noun | xiān lì | Siem Reap, Cambodia |
| 线粒体noun | xiàn lì tǐ | mitochondrion |
| 米粒noun | mǐ lì | grain of rice |
| 子粒noun | zǐ lì | seed |
| 粒细胞noun | lì xì bāo | granulocyte |
| 玉米粒noun | yù mǐ lì | corn kernel |
| 粒子束 | lì zǐ shù | beam of elementary particles |
| 麦粒noun | mài lì | grain of wheat |
| 谷粒noun | gǔ lì | grain (of cereal) |
| 麦粒肿noun | mài lì zhǒng | (medicine) stye |
| 粒子物理学noun | lì zǐ wù lǐ xué | particle physics |
| 高能粒子 | gāo néng lì zǐ | high energy particle |
粒 appears in 59 compound words: 15 as the first character, 37 as the last, and 47 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 粒 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (3)
Example Sentences
我在字典里查到了粒字的详细解释。
wǒ zài zì diǎn lǐ chá dào le lì zì de xiáng xì xiè shì .
I looked up the detailed explanation of the character "粒" in the dictionary.
腾讯新游《粒粒的小人国》开测,全网晒崽引爆偶遇社交热...
téng xùn xīn yóu lì lì de xiǎo rén guó kāi cè , quán wǎng shài 崽 yǐn bào ǒu yù shè jiāo rè . . .
Tencent's new game *Little People's World* has launched its beta test, with players sharing their characters across the web and sparking a social media craze around chance encounters...
大溪厝水环境教育园区 手作工坊再造废弃粒料
dà xī 厝 shuǐ huán jìng jiào yù yuán qū shǒu zuò gōng fāng zài zào fèi qì lì liào
Daxicuo Water Environment Education Park: Handicraft Workshop Repurposes Waste Granules
我科学家发明线粒体移植新技术
wǒ kē xué jiā fā míng xiàn lì tǐ yí zhí xīn jì shù
Chinese Scientists Develop New Mitochondrial Transplantation Technique
日本311地震15周年!粒线体DNA技术助6岁失踪女童14年后回家
rì běn 3 1 1 dì zhèn 1 5 zhōu nián ! lì xiàn tǐ D N A jì shù zhù 6 suì shī zōng nǚ tóng 1 4 nián hòu huí jiā
15th Anniversary of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake! Mitochondrial DNA Technology Helps 6-Year-Old Missing Girl Return Home 14 Years Later
$38外卖椰汁芋头西米露糖水!仅5粒芋头+极少西米 网民嘲赈灾粥
3 8 wài mài yē zhī 芋 tóu xī mǐ lù táng shuǐ ! jǐn 5 lì 芋 tóu jí shǎo xī mǐ wǎng mín cháo 赈 zāi zhōu
$38 takeaway coconut taro sago sugar water! Only 5 grains of taro + very little sago Netizens ridiculed the disaster relief porridge
空气中的微粒可以引发癌症。
Kōngqì zhōng de wēilì kěyǐ yǐnfā áizhèng.
Tiny particles in the air can cause cancer.
你衬衫的第二粒衣钮好像快要掉下来了。
Nǐ chènshān de dì'èr lì yī niǔ hǎoxiàng kuàiyào diàoxià lái le.
The second button of your shirt is coming off.
我只剩下一粒糖了。
Wǒ zhǐ shèng xià yī lì táng le.
I only have one sweet left.
我的儿子从盒子里拿了一粒糖。
Wǒ de érzi cóng hézi lǐ ná le yī lì táng.
My son took a candy from the box.
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 米 (grain) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 粒 (lì) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 粒 and 大?
How many strokes does 粒 have?
What is the radical of 粒?
What are the components of 粒?
What are common words containing 粒?
What characters sound the same as 粒 (lì)?
Is 粒 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 粒 with real-time feedback
Trace stroke sequences, hear spoken pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.