Learn Chinese Characters

Meaning

to arrange; to line up; row; file; series

Chinese: 排列、行列或列举。

Hear the Four Tones

The same syllable “lie” becomes a different word in each tone. 列 is the 4th 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

  • 系列xì lièseries; set
  • 列车liè chē(railway) train
  • 列入liè rùto include on a list
  • 排列pái lièto arrange in order; (math.) permutation
  • 列为liè wéito be classified as

Example Sentence

同学们排成一列。Tóng xué men pái chéng yí liè.The students lined up in a row.

同学Tóng xuéto study at the same schoomen(plural marker)páito arrange in orderchéngshort name for Chengdu 成都onelièto arrange

Go deeper

Where this character comes from

歹 (bones) plus 刂 (knife): originally to cut apart and lay out. It means ‘to arrange, line up, list, set out; a row, line, file, series; the measure word for trains/rows; various, each’ (列车, 排列, 一系列).

A way to remember it

‘To line up / a row / a series’: 排列, 列车, 一系列.