About
傈 is a phono-semantic compound: the standing person radical 亻 (rén) on the left places it within the semantic field of people or populations, while the right-side component 栗 (lì) provides the pronunciation. The character is used almost exclusively to transcribe the name of the Lisu (Lìsù) people, a Tibeto-Burman ethnic minority living mainly in the mountains of southwestern China, particularly Yunnan province, and in neighboring Southeast Asian countries. It never functions as an independent verb, adjective, or common noun; it appears solely in the ethnic designation, either in an older transcription paired with 粟 (sù) or in the modern form 傈僳 (lìsù), denoting the group and its language.
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