吏

See also: 史 and 更

吏	U+540F, 吏 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-540F

← 后
[U+540E]

CJK Unified Ideographs

吐 →
[U+5410]

吏	U+F9DE, 吏 CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-F9DE

← 利
[U+F9DD]

CJK Compatibility Ideographs

履 →
[U+F9DF]

Translingual

Han character

吏 (Kangxi radical 30, 口+3, 6 strokes, cangjie input 十中大 (JLK), four-corner 5000₆, composition ⿻一史 or ⿻丈口)

Derived characters

使, 𠲀, 𦧜, 𧧅, 𪘌, 𫣙, 𣥱, 𣦰, 㤦, 𣆘, 𫊳, 𩂲, 𣳪, 𬃻, 𧀞, 𮃂, 𫣚, 𥒅, 𩰢, 𥥥, 𠦱, 𦪨, 𣬒, 𩢲(𬳺), 㹬, 𧳅, 𥟹, 𫾫

References

Kangxi Dictionary: page 176, character 2
Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 3299
Dae Jaweon: page 393, character 2
Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 18, character 3
Unihan data for U+540F

Unihan data for U+F9DE

Chinese

simp. and trad.		吏
alternative forms		叓

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 吏
Western Zhou	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Bronze inscriptions	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Characters in the same phonetic series (史) (Zhengzhang, 2003)

	Old Chinese
吏	*rɯs
倳	*ʔsrɯs
剚	*ʔsrɯs
事	ʔsrɯs, zrɯs
史	*srɯʔ
使	srɯʔ, srɯs
駛	srɯʔ, srɯs

Alternative descendant of 叓, which is the ancient form of 事. Furthermore, both characters are related to 史, which was born as a variant without the horizontal stroke on top.

The character should represent a hand holding a flag to mean "representative, ambassador"; see 使.

Etymology

See 理 (lǐ, “envoy, jail official, matchmaker”).

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): lì (li⁴)

(Zhuyin): ㄌㄧˋ
Cantonese (Jyutping): lei⁶
Hakka (Sixian, PFS): li
Eastern Min (BUC): lê
Southern Min
(Hokkien, POJ): lī / lē

(Teochew, Peng'im): li⁷

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: lì
  - Zhuyin: ㄌㄧˋ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: lì
  - Wade–Giles: li⁴
  - Yale: lì
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: lih
  - Palladius: ли (li)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /li⁵¹/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
  - Jyutping: lei⁶
  - Yale: leih
  - Cantonese Pinyin: lei⁶
  - Guangdong Romanization: léi⁶
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /lei̯²²/
Hakka
- (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Neipu)
  - Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: li
  - Hakka Romanization System: li
  - Hagfa Pinyim: li⁴
  - Sinological IPA: /li⁵⁵/
Eastern Min
- (Fuzhou)
  - Bàng-uâ-cê: lê
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /l̃ɛi²⁴²/
Southern Min
- (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: lī
  - Tâi-lô: lī
  - Phofsit Daibuun: li
  - IPA (Taipei, Kaohsiung): /li³³/
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /li⁴¹/
  - IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /li²²/
- (Hokkien: Quanzhou, Xiamen)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: lē
  - Tâi-lô: lē
  - Phofsit Daibuun: le
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /le⁴¹/
  - IPA (Xiamen): /le²²/

Note:

lī/lē - literary;
lē - vernacular (俗, Xiamen).

(Teochew)
- Peng'im: li⁷
- Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: lī
- Sinological IPA ^(key): /li¹¹/

Middle Chinese: liH

Rime
Character	吏
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	來 (37)
Final (韻)	之 (19)
Tone (調)	Departing (H)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	III
Fanqie	力置切
Baxter	liH
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/lɨ^H/
Pan Wuyun	/lɨ^H/
Shao Rongfen	/lie^H/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/lɨ^H/
Li Rong	/liə^H/
Wang Li	/lĭə^H/
Bernhard Karlgren	/li^H/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	lì
Expected Cantonese Reflex	lei⁶

Old Chinese
(Baxter–Sagart): /*[r]əʔ-s/

(Zhengzhang): /*rɯs/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	吏
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	lì
Middle Chinese	‹ li^H ›
Old Chinese	/*[r]əʔ-s/
English	officer
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. [t] as coda may in fact be -t or -p; Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.