厉lì

厉

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Simplified · Today

繁体

Traditional Chinese

厲 (lì, "severe, strict") in its traditional form preserves an ominous pictograph: a person (亻) standing above a blade (刀), suggesting danger and sharpness. The simplified 厉 stripped away this threatening figure, leaving only the cliff-like roof (厂) and 万 beneath—a ghost of its former intensity. In classical texts, 厲 described everything from fierce winds to rigorous standards, its edge softening only as the character itself was dulled by centuries of writing.

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Shuowen

The character 厉 depicts a stone being used to grind or sharpen a blade, representing a whetstone; in its oracle bone form, the upper element shows the stone and the lower element depicts the grinding action. The original meaning is therefore "to sharpen" or "whetstone," and this sense of grinding and honing later extended metaphorically to mean severe or strict—since what is sharpened becomes keen, rigorous, and intense.

Pinyin

lì· HSK 2

厉lì

Character evolution

Shuowen

Pinyin