Learn Chinese Characters

Meaning

to leave; to depart; to go away; from

Chinese: 离开、距离。

Hear the Four Tones

The same syllable “li” becomes a different word in each tone. 离 is the 2nd tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.

Stroke Order

Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.

Common Words

  • 离开lí kāito depart; to leave
  • 离婚lí hūnto divorce
  • 距离jù lídistance; to be apart from
  • 远离yuǎn líto be far from; to keep away from
  • 离不开lí bu kāiinseparable; inevitably linked to

Example Sentence

火车站离这儿不远。Huǒ chē zhàn lí zhèr bù yuǎn.The train station is not far from here.

火车站huǒ chē zhàntrain stationchīmythical beast这儿zhè rherenotyuǎnfar

Go deeper

Where this character comes from

Simplified from 離 (which had 隹, a bird). It means ‘to leave, depart, part from; to be away/distant from; without, apart from; one of the eight trigrams (fire)’ (离开, 距离, 离别).

A way to remember it

‘To leave / be apart from’: 离开 (leave), 距离 (distance).