Meaning of 吉利
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- auspicious
- lucky
- propitious
- Geely, Chinese car make
How to use 吉利
吉利 describes things, numbers, words or days that bring good luck, and it often comes up around holidays, weddings and business openings. It is common in the phrase 不吉利 (bù jílì), meaning unlucky. Example: 八是一个很吉利的数字。(Bā shì yí gè hěn jílì de shùzì.) Eight is a very lucky number.
吉 (jí) means good fortune, and 利 (lì) means benefit or advantage. Put good fortune and benefit together and you get something lucky and auspicious.
Common mistake: Learners often use 吉利 for a lucky person, as in 'I am lucky.' For that, Chinese uses 运气好 (yùnqi hǎo) or 幸运 (xìngyùn). 吉利 is for signs, numbers and omens. Also keep the tone on 吉 (jí) as second tone, not first.
吉利 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.
吉 jí · lucky · 6 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
利 lì · sharp · 7 strokes
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
Related words
Words that share a character with 吉利.
| 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 吉利
What does 吉利 mean?
吉利 (jílì) means "auspicious; lucky" and is used as a adjective.
How do you write 吉利?
吉利 is made of 2 characters: 吉 (6 strokes), 利 (7 strokes). That is 13 strokes in total.
Is 吉利 an HSK word?
Yes. 吉利 is on the HSK 6 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
What is the difference between 吉利 and 幸运?
幸运 (xìngyùn) means fortunate and usually describes people or events that turned out well. 吉利 (jílì) means auspicious and describes things that are believed to bring good luck, like words, colors or dates.
Why is the car brand Geely called 吉利?
The company name is written 吉利 (Jílì) and carries the auspicious meaning of the word. In this use it is a proper noun, so in pinyin it is often capitalized as Jílì.