吏

See also: 史 and 更

吏 U+540F, 吏 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-540F ← 后 [U+540E] CJK Unified Ideographs 吐 → [U+5410]

吏 U+F9DE, 吏 CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-F9DE ← 利 [U+F9DD] CJK Compatibility Ideographs 履 → [U+F9DF]

Translingual

Han character

吏 (Kangxi radical 30, 口+3, 6 strokes, cangjie input 十中大 (JLK), four-corner 5000₆, composition ⿻一史 or ⿻丈口)

Derived characters

• 使, 𠲀, 𦧜, 𧧅, 𪘌, 𫣙, 𣥱, 𣦰, 㤦, 𣆘, 𫊳, 𩂲, 𣳪, 𬃻, 𧀞, 𮃂, 𫣚, 𥒅, 𩰢, 𥥥, 𠦱, 𦪨, 𣬒, 𩢲(𬳺), 㹬, 𧳅, 𥟹, 𫾫

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 176, character 2
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 3299
• Dae Jaweon: page 393, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 18, character 3
• Unihan data for U+540F

• Unihan data for U+F9DE

Chinese

simp. and trad.		吏
alternative forms		叓

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 吏
Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Characters in the same phonetic series (史) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
吏	*rɯs
倳	*ʔsrɯs
剚	*ʔsrɯs
事	*ʔsrɯs, *zrɯs
史	*srɯʔ
使	*srɯʔ, *srɯs
駛	*srɯʔ, *srɯs

Alternative descendant of 叓, which is the ancient form of 事. Furthermore, both characters are related to 史, which was born as a variant without the horizontal stroke on top.

The character should represent a hand holding a flag to mean "representative, ambassador"; see 使.

Etymology

See 理 (lǐ, “envoy, jail official, matchmaker”).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): lì (li⁴)

  (Zhuyin): ㄌㄧˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): lei⁶
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): li
• Eastern Min (BUC): lê
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): lī / lē

  (Teochew, Peng'im): li⁷

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: lì
    • Zhuyin: ㄌㄧˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: lì
    • Wade–Giles: li⁴
    • Yale: lì
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: lih
    • Palladius: ли (li)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /li⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: lei⁶
    • Yale: leih
    • Cantonese Pinyin: lei⁶
    • Guangdong Romanization: léi⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /lei̯²²/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: li
    • Hakka Romanization System: li
    • Hagfa Pinyim: li⁴
    • Sinological IPA: /li⁵⁵/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: lê
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /l̃ɛi²⁴²/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: lī
    • Tâi-lô: lī
    • Phofsit Daibuun: li
    • Sinological IPA (Taipei, Kaohsiung): /li³³/
    • Sinological IPA (Quanzhou): /li⁴¹/
    • Sinological IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /li²²/
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou, Xiamen)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: lē
    • Tâi-lô: lē
    • Phofsit Daibuun: le
    • Sinological IPA (Quanzhou): /le⁴¹/
    • Sinological IPA (Xiamen): /le²²/

Note:

• lī/lē - literary;
• lē - vernacular (俗, Xiamen).

• • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: li⁷
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: lī
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /li¹¹/

---

• Middle Chinese: liH

Rime
Character	吏
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	來 (37)
Final (韻)	之 (19)
Tone (調)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	III
Fanqie	力置切
Baxter	liH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/lɨH/
Pan Wuyun	/lɨH/
Shao Rongfen	/lieH/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/lɨH/
Li Rong	/liəH/
Wang Li	/lĭəH/
Bernhard Karlgren	/liH/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	lì
Expected Cantonese Reflex	lei6

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*[r]əʔ-s/

  (Zhengzhang): /*rɯs/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	吏
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	lì
Middle Chinese	‹ liH ›
Old Chinese	/*[r]əʔ-s/
English	officer
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	吏
Reading #	1/1
No.	11482
Phonetic component	史
Rime group	之
Rime subdivision	0
Corresponding MC rime	吏
Old Chinese	/*rɯs/
Notes	史轉註字

Definitions

吏

1. (historical) government official
2. (historical) petty official
3. a surname

Compounds

• 一行作吏
• 下吏
• 俗吏 (súlì)
• 健吏
• 僕吏 / 仆吏
• 公吏
• 六房吏典
• 六房書吏 / 六房书吏
• 典吏
• 刀筆吏 / 刀笔吏
• 刻木為吏 / 刻木为吏
• 削木為吏 / 削木为吏
• 吏員 / 吏员
• 吏士
• 吏民
• 吏治 (lìzhì)
• 吏目
• 吏胥
• 吏議 / 吏议
• 吏讀 / 吏读 (lìdú)
• 吏道
• 吏部 (Lìbù)
• 園吏 / 园吏
• 堠吏
• 大吏
• 奸胥猾吏
• 委吏
• 守吏
• 官吏 (guānlì)
• 官虎吏狼
• 家吏
• 將吏 / 将吏 (jiànglì)
• 小吏 (xiǎolì)
• 幹吏 / 干吏
• 府小吏
• 庫吏 / 库吏
• 廉吏
• 從吏 / 从吏
• 循吏 (xúnlì)
• 排房吏典
• 掾吏 (yuànlì)
• 故吏 (gùlì)
• 朱衣吏
• 汙吏 / 污吏 (wūlì)
• 汙吏黠胥 / 污吏黠胥
• 法吏
• 津吏
• 濫吏贓官 / 滥吏赃官
• 濫官汙吏 / 滥官污吏 (lànguān-wūlì)
• 爪牙吏
• 猾吏
• 獄吏 / 狱吏 (yùlì)
• 甕間吏部 / 瓮间吏部
• 甲吏
• 疆吏
• 純吏 / 纯吏
• 署吏
• 老吏
• 胥吏 (xūlì)
• 能吏
• 苛吏 (kēlì)
• 蒙吏
• 計吏 / 计吏
• 貪吏 / 贪吏 (tānlì)
• 貪吏猾胥 / 贪吏猾胥
• 貪官汙吏 / 贪官污吏 (tānguān-wūlì)
• 郵吏 / 邮吏
• 酷吏 (kùlì)
• 長吏 / 长吏 (zhǎnglì)
• 門吏 / 门吏 (ménlì)
• 門生故吏 / 门生故吏 (ménshēng gùlì)
• 驛吏 / 驿吏
• 墨吏
• 黠吏 (xiálì)

Japanese

Kanji

See also:

Category:Japanese terms spelled with 吏

吏

(Jōyō kanji)

1. (historical) petty official (low-ranking public servant)

Usage notes

Whereas high-ranking government officials are referred to as 官 (kan), low-ranking ones are called 吏 (ri).

Readings

• Go-on: り (ri, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: り (ri, Jōyō)
• Kun: つかさ (tsukasa, 吏)

References

• “^△吏”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎ (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2025
• Shinmura, Izuru, editor (1998), 広辞苑 [Kōjien] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, →ISBN

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 吏 (MC liH). Recorded as Middle Korean 리〯 (lǐ) (Yale: li) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

吏

吏 (eumhun 벼슬아치 리 (byeoseurachi ri), word-initial (South Korea) 벼슬아치 이 (byeoseurachi i))

1. hanja form^? of 리/이 (“government official”)

Compounds

• 관리 (官吏, gwalli)
• 서리 (胥吏, seori)
• 옥리 (獄吏, ongni)
• 이두 (吏讀, idu)
• 이서 (吏胥, iseo)
• 탐관오리 (貪官汚吏, tamgwanori)

References

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.