隸 (lì) - Meaning, Stroke Order & Audio

隸

lì[li4]Tone 4

servitude, subordinate, clerical script

HSK 7

View Simplified FormSwitch to Simplified

隶

Guru Deep Dive

English · servitude, subordinate, clerical script

Cached lesson

1 / 1

Topology:Left-right

Strokes:8

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (tail/brush component) should be slender and compact, leaving ample horizontal space for the right side (body and sweeping tail stroke).

Simplification Logic: Simplified from 隸 by streamlining the complex top-left components and rationalizing the brush strokes into standard modern clerical/regular script forms.

1. Meaning

servant, subordinate, or clerical script

attached or subordinate tohistorical Han dynasty official script style

Bound morpheme / Noun / VerbFormal / LiteraryBound morpheme#society#history#writing systems

Sample Usage

奴隶
nú lì
slave
隶书
lì shū
clerical script (calligraphy style)

2. Sound

/[li⁵¹]/Tone: 51

隸

lìli4

`(51)

=lì

Build the syllable

Step-by-step blending

Tone mark placement: Tone mark sits on "i" per main-vowel priority (a > e > o; in -iu/-ui the mark takes the second vowel).

Say it like:“Lee”ExactTone pitch cue:sharp fall, like a command

Key difference: —

Initial Consonant

Type: Alveolar Lateral

Sounds like: l sound

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 while air escapes around the sides.

Final Rhyme

Vowel Group: -i vowel group

Sounds like: ee sound in bee

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 to the bottom of your vocal range, matching an emphatic command like 'Stop!' or 'Go!'.

Sandhi: When followed by another Tone 4 syllable, the tone 4 pitch drops slightly shorter and sharper.

👂

Listening trap: Confusing Tone 4 (lì) with Tone 2 (lí) due to failing to execute the sharp downward drop.

👋

Physical Tone Gesture: A karate chop straight down from head to chest, representing the sharp, authoritative drop of Tone 4.

3. Writing

Topology: Left-right · Strokes: 8 strokes

Writing Balance Rule: The left side (tail/brush component) should be slender and compact, leaving ample horizontal space for the right side (body and sweeping tail stroke).

Simplification Logic: Simplified from 隸 by streamlining the complex top-left components and rationalizing the brush strokes into standard modern clerical/regular script forms.

4. Components

Radical 隶 · Subordinate / Slave Radical (servitude, catching, tail)

Semantic Clue (形旁): 又 (hand reaching out to grasp or control)

A tail or hair brush being grabbed by a hand (又), signifying capturing someone into servitude or controlling subordinates.

氺 modified tail or hair structure in the top-left
又 hand capturing or holding

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

5· Phonetic Root: 隶 (lì)

5. History

Liushu category: Phono-semantic (形声)

Origin: Originally depicted a hand grabbing a long tail or queue of hair, representing prisoners of war captured and reduced to slaves.

Semantic Evolution: From 'captive slave' to 'subordinate personnel', and later borrowed phonetically to describe the 'clerical script' used by government scribes and administrative clerks.

Clerical script (隶书) emerged during the Qin and Han dynasties, replacing the complex seal script with a flatter, squarer style easier for administrative clerks to write quickly.

6. Sinosphere

🇯🇵

Kanji (Japanese)

On: レイ

🇰🇷

Hanja (Korean)

예

Sound Shift Bridge: Mandarin 'li' corresponds to Japanese on'yomi 'rei'.

7. Memory

Vivid Mnemonic Story

A HAND (又) reaches out and grabs a SERVANT by the hair, forcing them into SUBORDINATION.

Phonetic Family (形声字家族)

隶

lìservitude, subordinate, clerical scriptPhonetic Core (声旁)

逮

dǎito catch; to seize; to capture+ 辶 (walking)

埭

dàidam+ 土 (earth)

棣

dìKerria japonica+ 木 (tree)

Explore this family →

Lookalikes & Traps (形近字)

康(kāng)

康 has a bottom middle component (求), whereas 隶 has a hand (又) capturing a tail.

8. Mastery

Active Recall Challenge

古代有很多被剝奪自由的奴[___]。

Clue: lì

Common Learner Pitfall

Mistaking 隶 for a standalone word; it is almost always bound inside compound words like 奴隶 (slave) or 隶书 (clerical script).

Memory Prompts

Recognition: When you see the character 隶, what are its primary meanings related to people and writing?

Production: How do you write and pronounce the character for 'clerical script' or 'servitude' (lì)?

隸lìservitude, subordinate, clerical script

Speed:

Searching YouTube for native pronunciation videos...

0 / 0