源etymfun
About

Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

Chinese

李

lǐ
plum (tree and fruit)
  • Phono-semantic compound 形聲
  • HSK 3
  • radical 木
  • 7 strokes

Etymology graph

  • inherited
  • borrowed
  • derived
  • parts
  • meaning component
  • sound component
  • related
React Flow
Press enter or space to select a node. You can then use the arrow keys to move the node around. Press delete to remove it and escape to cancel.
Press enter or space to select an edge. You can then press delete to remove it or escape to cancel.

點擊節點放大 · Click a node to zoom in

Origin

Oracle bone script: Phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *rɯʔ): phonetic 來 (OC *m·rɯːɡ, “wheat”) + semantic 子. The phonetic part 來 became gradually corrupted to yield 木 (“tree”).

Shuowen erroneously remarks that this is a phono-semantic compound (形聲 /形声, OC *rɯʔ): semantic 木 (“tree”) + phonetic 子 (OC *ʔslɯʔ).

From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Lineage

  • soundChinese來 “to come; to arrive”
  • meaningChinese木 “tree; woody plant”
  • meaningChinese子 “child; offspring; descendant”

Words built on it: 行李

Meanings

character
  1. plum (tree and fruit)
  2. a surname, listed fourth in the Baijiaxing

Shuowen Jiezi 說文解字

李：果也。从木子聲。

Xu Shen, c. 100 CE — the first analytical dictionary of Chinese characters.

國語辭典 definitions

  1. 植物名。薔薇科櫻屬，落葉小喬木。葉互生，倒披針形或倒卵形，葉緣呈鋸齒狀。春天開白花。果實亦稱「李」。為圓卵形，熟時為紅紫色或黃色，味酸，可供生食或作蜜餞。　△李子　◎
  2. 姓。

© Ministry of Education, Taiwan — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW, shown unaltered.

How 李 was written 字形演變

  1. 李 in Bronze script
    Bronze
    金文
    Shang–Zhou
  2. 李 in Chu slips & silk script
    Chu slips & silk
    楚系簡帛
    Warring States
  3. 李 in Qin slips script
    Qin slips
    秦系簡牘
    Qin
  4. 李 in Small seal script
    Small seal
    說文小篆
    Shuowen, c. 100 CE
  5. 李 in Regular script
    Regular
    楷書
    since c. 200 CE

Historical forms collected by the legacy etymfun dataset; most characters have several attested variants.

Sources

  • Historical glyph forms (zdic.net 字形演变) — Rights unverified
  • HSK / TOCFL word lists — Facts (levels)
  • 教育部《國語辭典簡編本》 (Taiwan MOE) — CC BY-ND 3.0 TW
  • 說文解字 Shuowen Jiezi (Xu Shen, c. 100 CE) — Public domain
  • Written form — n/a
  • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Wiktionary: 李