厘

lí
#2,257 most
frequent character
variant of 釐|厘[li2]

Character breakdown

Source: Make Me a Hanzi.

厘 lí joins 里 lǐ, which is close in sound, with 厂, an empty part that was once an abbreviation of 𠩺, a hand holding a harvest tool. The first sense was 'to harvest grain.' The units of length and area were borrowed for their sound, while 'fraction' grew from the length unit.

Drawn as: hand holding harvest tool

厘 as a component in other characters

picture1 character
喱

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Same Characters, Different Readings

厘Li2
Li (c. 2000 BC), sixth of the legendary Flame Emperors 炎帝[Yan2 di4] descended from Shennong 神農|神农[Shen2 nong2] Farmer God, also known as Ai 哀[Ai1]
厘lí
one hundredth, centi-

Homophones

HSK 2
离lí
to leave, to part from, to be away from
HSK 5
梨lí
pear
璃lí
colored glaze, glass
黎lí
(literary) black, dark, many

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