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 also the ancient form of 事.

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
  - IPA (Taipei, Kaohsiung): /li³³/
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /li⁴¹/
  - IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /li²²/
- (Hokkien: Quanzhou, Xiamen)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: lē
  - Tâi-lô: lē
  - Phofsit Daibuun: le
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /le⁴¹/
  - 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	/lɨ^H/
Pan Wuyun	/lɨ^H/
Shao Rongfen	/lie^H/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/lɨ^H/
Li Rong	/liə^H/
Wang Li	/lĭə^H/
Bernhard Karlgren	/li^H/
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	‹ li^H ›
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

Compounds

Japanese

Kanji

吏

(Jōyō kanji)

(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

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

Wikisource

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

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

Compounds

서리 (胥吏, seori)
이서 (吏胥, iseo)
관리 (官吏, gwalli)
옥리 (獄吏, ongni)
이두 (吏讀, idu)
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. [1]

Vietnamese

Han character

吏: Hán Nôm readings: lại^[1], lưỡi^[2]

(only in compound quan lại) chữ Hán form of lại (“government official”).
Nôm form of lại (“again”).

References

[Viện_Nghiên_cứu_Hán_Nôm-1] Viện Nghiên cứu Hán Nôm.

[btcn-2] Hồ (1976).

[1]

[2]