歷 (lì) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

歷

lì[li4]Tone 4

to experience, history, every

HSK 3

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历

Guru Deep Dive

English · to experience, history, every

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Topology:Left-right

Strokes:4

Writing Balance Rule: Keep the left component (止) slightly narrower and lower than the right component (夂/厂 variants), maintaining a balanced left-right harmony.

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 歷 features complex components (鬲) simplified into a cleaner structure 历 to reduce stroke count while preserving the original layout.

1. Meaning

to experience or pass through

historyeachevery

Verb / NounNeutral / Formal#time#experience#process

Sample Usage

历史
lì shǐ
history
经历
jīng lì
to experience; personal experience

2. Sound

/[li⁵¹]/Tone: 51

歷

lìli4

`(51)

=lì

Initial Consonant

Type: Alveolar Lateral

Sounds like: English l sound as in 'lea'

Unaspirated

Airflow Tactile Test: Air flows freely around both sides of tongue.

Tongue & Mouth Position: Tongue tip touches the alveolar ridge right behind the upper front teeth.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -i vowel group

Sounds like: English ee sound as in 'see'

Mouth Shape Guide: Pronounce as standalone vowel 'ee'.

Common Learner Trap: Keep vowel quality steady across all 4 tone contours.

Tone

T4 (51)

5 → 1 (51)

4th Tone (High-Falling)

Tone Pitch & Cadence: Tone 4 starts high and drops sharply, identical to an emphatic English 'No!' or command.

Sandhi: When followed by another Tone 4 syllable, it softens slightly to a 53 contour depending on speech tempo.

👂

Listening trap: Mistaking Tone 4 (lì) for Tone 2 (lí), turning 'history' into an interrogative pitch.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A sharp, decisive karate chop downwards from head height to waist height, matching the high-to-low plummet of Tone 4.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 4 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: Keep the left component (止) slightly narrower and lower than the right component (夂/厂 variants), maintaining a balanced left-right harmony.

Simplification Logic: The traditional form 歷 features complex components (鬲) simplified into a cleaner structure 历 to reduce stroke count while preserving the original layout.

4. Components

Radical 止 · Stop Radical (foot, to stop)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 止 (Indicates walking or moving step by step through places.)

A foot (止) moving past obstacles step by step, representing going through or experiencing various events over time.

止 Foot / to stop / walking step
厂 Cliff / shelter representing passing through locations

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

9· Phonetic Root: 止 (zhǐ)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally depicted footsteps passing through places or boundaries over time, later evolving to mean undergoing or experiencing events.

Semantic Evolution: From physically passing through locations to metaphorically experiencing life events and recording the passage of time (history).

The character bridges spatial movement (walking past) with temporal accumulation (history).

6. Sinosphere

🇻🇳

Sino-Vietnamese

lịch

Corresponds to the Vietnamese sắc tone (high rising).

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: レキ (reki)

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

력 (Ryeok) or 역 (Yeok)

Sound Shift Bridge: The initial 'l' and final '-i' / '-k' endings show regular historical sound correspondences across East Asian languages.

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

To write your life's history (历), you must take steps with your feet (止) past every cliff and boundary (厂), experiencing every single moment.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

历

lìexperienceBase form for experience and history.

厉

lìsevere / strictUses a cliff radical on top, denoting a strict cliff-like sternness.

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

厉(lì)

历 has 止 inside representing footsteps; 厉 has 万 inside representing a scorpion or stern enclosure.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

我們應該了解中國的[___]。

Clue: lì shǐ

Common Learner Pitfall

Confusing the internal components of 历 with other similar characters like 厉 or 厂, leading to incorrect stroke orders.

Memory Prompts

Recognition: What does the character 历 mean when seen in 历史 (history) or 经历 (experience)?

Production: How do you write the character for 'to experience / history' with 4 strokes?

歷lìto experience, history, every

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