TraceHanzi

狸 meaning and stroke order

lí

Fox

10 strokesRadical 犭Traditional 貍
Strokes10
Pinyinlí
ToneTone 2
Frequency#2,494
Printable worksheet

How to write 狸, 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 狸

Definitions from CC-CEDICT, grouped by pronunciation.

lísecond tone (rising)
  1. (bound form) used in the names of small mammals
  2. variant of 狸[li2]

How 狸 is built

Phono-semantic (sound + meaning) character. Dog.

quǎndog+lǐlining

犭 gives the meaning and 里 hints at the sound.

Radical: 犭 (dog), shared by 88 characters on this site.

How to remember 狸

狸 combines the animal radical 犭 (a dog shape, used for animals) with 里 (lǐ), which gives the sound. Picture a small wild animal hiding in the village 里, sneaking around at night.

狸 rarely stands alone. It appears in names of small mammals, most often in 狐狸 (húli, fox), where it is usually read with a neutral tone. Example: 那只狐狸很聪明。(Nà zhī húli hěn cōngming.) That fox is very clever.

Common mistake: Learners often write 理 (lǐ, reason) or 哩 instead of 狸, since they share 里. Remember that 狸 names an animal, so it takes the animal radical 犭. Also note that in 狐狸 the second syllable is usually said lightly as li, not with a full second tone.

Common words with 狸

Ordered by HSK level, then by how often they appear in everyday Chinese.

WordPinyinMeaningLevel
狐狸húlifox; (fig.) sly or crafty person
海狸hǎilíbeaver
狸猫límāoleopard cat; (literary) various small wild mammals (including raccoon dog, civet, wildcat)
狐狸精húlijīngfox-spirit; vixen
老狐狸lǎohúli(fig.) old fox; a wily, shrewd person

狸 in example sentences

Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.

白bái兔tù的de耳ěr朵duǒ比bǐ狐hú狸lí长zhǎng。
The ears of a rabbit are longer than those of a fox.
这zhè只zhǐ狐hú狸lí和hé这zhè只zhǐ熊xióng一yì起qǐ生shēng活huó了le。
The fox and the bear lived together.
狐hú狸lí是shì一yī种zhǒng野yě生shēng动dòng物wù。
A fox is a wild animal.
包bāo柏bǎi想xiǎng在zài家jiā里lǐ养yǎng狐hú狸lí。
Bob wants to raise a fox at home.
有yǒu两liǎng种zhǒng狐hú狸lí精jīng神shén：好hǎo狐hú狸lí和hé坏huài狐hú狸lí。
There are two kinds of fox spirits: good fox and bad fox.

Questions about 狸

How many strokes are in 狸?

狸 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 狸 mean?

狸 (lí) means fox. A common word with it is 狐狸 (húli), meaning "fox; (fig.) sly or crafty person".

How do you pronounce 狸?

狸 is pronounced lí, in the second tone (rising).

What is the radical of 狸?

The radical of 狸 is 犭, which carries the idea of "dog". Dictionaries list 狸 under this radical.

What is the traditional form of 狸?

The traditional form of 狸 is 貍. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau; 狸 is the simplified form used in mainland China and Singapore.

Does 狸 mean fox by itself?

Not really. The word for fox is 狐狸 (húli), and 狐 (hú) carries most of the fox meaning. On its own, 狸 refers broadly to small wild mammals like the leopard cat or raccoon dog.

Why do people call someone 老狐狸?

老狐狸 (lǎohúli) means old fox. It describes a shrewd, crafty person who is hard to outsmart, and it is usually a bit negative or teasing.