离

離

chī, lí

㐫 + 禸

HSK 2.0Level 2

HSK 3.0Level 2

Definitions

lí (verb) to leave; to part from; to be away from

lí (preposition) from; distance from

lí (preposition) without; independent of

Etymology

Pictograph of a legendary mountain demon with horns and a tail beween its legs, now written as 魑. The traditional character 離 (leave; depart; away from) was simplified to 离 by deleting the 隹 (bird) component.

About

离 is the simplified form of the traditional character 離, which was a phono-semantic compound with a complex history. Its traditional structure features a left component originally depicting a mythical beast or net, paired with the semantic short-tailed bird radical 隹 on the right. The earliest meanings related to a type of bird or the act of catching birds, but the character was phonetically borrowed to express abstract concepts like separation, departure, or distance. The simplified form removes the bird radical 隹, leaving only the left component to represent meanings of leaving, parting from, or being at a distance from a location.

Etymology Hide

Seal Shuowen (~100 AD)

Clerical Qin dynasty (221-206 BC)

Traditional Modern

Simplified Modern

Example Sentences Hide

离开家的时候要锁门。

Lí kāi jiā de shí hòu yào suǒ mén.

Remember to lock the door when you leave home.

火车站离这儿很近。

Huǒ chē zhàn lí zhèr hěn jìn.

The train station is very close to here.

请不要远离你的父母。

Qǐng bù yào yuǎn lí nǐ de fù mǔ.

Please don't wander far from your parents.

他的办公室离我的很近。

Tā de bàn gōng shì lí wǒ de hěn jìn.

His office is very close to mine.

我们不得不暂时分离。

Wǒ men bù dé bù zàn shí fēn lí.

We have to be separated for a while.

离婚是一个艰难的决定。

Lí hūn shì yí gè jiān nán de jué dìng.

Divorce is a difficult decision.

他的观点脱离了实际情况。

Tā de guān diǎn tuō lí le shí jì qíng kuàng.

His viewpoint has deviated from the actual situation.

两国文化之间存在很大距离。

Liǎng guó wén huà zhī jiān cún zài hěn dà jù lí.

There is a great distance between the cultures of the two countries.

Related Characters

Composed characters:

Component: 㐫

Component: 禸

离