Meaning of 利
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- sharp
- favorable
- advantage
- benefit
- profit
- interest
- to do good to
- to benefit
- surname Li
How to use 利
利 rarely stands alone in modern speech. It mostly appears in compounds like 顺利 (shùnlì), 流利 (liúlì), 利用 (lìyòng) and 有利 (yǒulì), carrying the ideas of smoothness, advantage or benefit. Example: 祝你一切顺利。(Zhù nǐ yíqiè shùnlì.) I wish you all the best.
利 (lì) has 禾 (hé, grain) on the left and 刂, the knife radical, on the right. Picture a sharp blade cutting ripe grain at harvest: sharp tools bring profit and benefit.
Common mistake: Learners often confuse 权利 (quánlì, a right) with 权力 (quánlì, power), since they sound identical. Use 权利 for entitlements like human rights and 权力 for authority or control. Also check the left side: it is 禾 (grain), not 木 (tree).
利 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
利 lì · sharp · 7 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 利.
| 顺利 | shùnlì | smoothly; without a hitch |
| 流利 | liúlì | fluent |
| 利用 | lìyòng | to exploit; to make use of |
| 胜利 | shènglì | victory |
| 有利 | yǒulì | advantageous; favorable |
| 权利 | quánlì | right (i.e. an entitlement to sth); (classical) power and wealth |
| 利益 | lìyì | benefit; (in sb's) interest |
| 利息 | lìxī | interest (on a loan) |
| 不利 | bùlì | unfavorable; disadvantageous |
| 利润 | lìrùn | profits |
| 福利 | fúlì | benefit (provided by an employer or organization); (social) welfare |
| 专利 | zhuānlì | patent; sth uniquely enjoyed (or possessed etc) by a certain group of people |
Questions about 利
What does 利 mean?
利 (lì) means "sharp; favorable" and is used as a noun.
How do you write 利?
利 is made of 1 character: 利 (7 strokes). That is 7 strokes in total.
Is 利 an HSK word?
Yes. 利 is on the HSK 6 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
Does 利用 always have a negative meaning like exploit?
No. 利用 can simply mean to make use of something, as in 利用时间 (lìyòng shíjiān, to make use of time). It sounds negative when the object is a person, as in 他利用了我 (He used me).
How is 利 used to talk about money?
利 appears in finance words such as 利息 (lìxī, interest) and 利润 (lìrùn, profit). The phrase 有利可图 (yǒu lì kě tú) means there is profit to be made.