Dong Chinese dictionary

lí

to split

Original meaning:

to harvest wheat

Depicts a person (人) carrying wheat (來) while using their hand to hit (攵) it. Based on the original meaning "to harvest wheat". The meaning later shifted to "crack" and "to split".

Components

來 Iconic component

lái

come

Depicts a stalk of wheat.

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 來 than it was in ancient scripts.

攵 Iconic component

pū

tap

Depicts a hand holding a hitting implement.

人 Iconic component

rén

person

Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 人 than it was in ancient scripts.

Evolution

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)

Bronze script

Mid Western Zhou (~900 BC)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)

Regular script

Modern

Definitions

𠩺

lí

to split; rive; crack; demolish

Component uses

Meaning component in 1 character (1 verified)

釐

Sound component in 1 character (1 verified)

Sources

季旭昇《說文新證》p.245