哩 meaning and stroke order
Mile
How to write 哩, stroke by stroke
10 strokes in order. Each box adds the next stroke in red. Write top to bottom and left to right, and finish enclosing strokes last.
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Meaning of 哩
Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.
- mile
- (modal final particle similar to 呢[ne5] or 啦[la5])
How 哩 is built
Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Mouth.
口 gives the meaning and 里 hints at the sound.
Radical: 口 (mouth), shared by 428 characters on this site.
How to remember 哩
哩 combines 口 (mouth) with 里 (lǐ), which gives the sound. Picture a mouth saying the word "li" out loud, a character used mostly for sounds, foreign words, and chatty endings.
Today 哩 shows up mainly in loanwords like 咖哩 (gālí or kālǐ, curry) and in the older spelling 英哩 (yīnglǐ, mile). In casual speech it can also be a light sentence-final particle, similar to 呢 (ne) or 啦 (la). Example: 我想吃咖哩饭。(Wǒ xiǎng chī gālí fàn.) I want to eat curry rice.
Common mistake: Learners often write 英哩 for "mile" in modern mainland Chinese, but the standard form now is 英里 (yīnglǐ) without the 口. Keep 哩 for 咖哩 and the particle, and use plain 里 for distances.
Common words with 哩
Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 英哩 | yīnglǐ | variant of 英里[ying1 li3] | |
| 咖哩 | kālǐ | (Tw) (loanword) curry; colloquial pr. [ga1li3] or [ga1li2] |
哩 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Questions about 哩
How many strokes are in 哩?
哩 is written with 10 strokes. The diagrams on this page number every stroke in the order it is written, with the new stroke shown in red.
What does 哩 mean?
哩 (lī) means mile. A common word with it is 英哩 (yīnglǐ), meaning "variant of 英里[ying1 li3]".
How do you pronounce 哩?
哩 is pronounced lī, in the first tone (high and level).
What is the radical of 哩?
The radical of 哩 is 口, which carries the idea of "mouth". Dictionaries list 哩 under this radical.
How do you pronounce 哩 in 咖哩?
Dictionaries list kālǐ, but most mainland speakers say gālí or gālǐ in everyday speech. The first syllable is usually ga, not ka.
Is 哩 the same as 里 in meaning?
No. 里 is the common character for "inside" and the Chinese unit li, and it is the standard word in 英里 (mile). 哩 borrows 里 only for its sound and is used for loanwords and a spoken particle.