历 (lì) is a Chinese character meaning “to go through”. It is written from 厂 (factory; cliff radical) and 力 (strength; power), one enclosing the other, and takes 4 strokes.
Build the character for “to go through; past”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
厂 + 力
Enclosing structure
Structure from: Unicode U+5386 and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (4 strokes = 厂 2 + 力 2)
Memory aid
Under the shelter of a cliff (厂), someone keeps putting in effort (力) — day after day, that stored-up effort becomes history.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
4 strokes
In real words
- 历史lì shǐhistory历 = lìHSK 3
- 经历jīng lìto go through; experience历 = lìHSK 4
- 阅历yuè lìexperience (of life)历 = lì
Go deeper
All readings
to experience; past
to go through; to experience; past, successive; calendar
经过；past 的经过；也指历法、日历。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 历史lì shǐhistory历 = lìHSK 3
- 经历jīng lìto go through; experience历 = lìHSK 4
- 阅历yuè lìexperience (of life)历 = lì
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 历 mean?
历 (lì) means to go through; to experience; past, successive; calendar.
How do you pronounce 历?
It is pronounced lì.
What parts is 历 made of?
厂 (factory; cliff radical) and 力 (strength; power), one enclosing the other. The recorded source is: Unicode U+5386 and hanzi-writer-data 2.0.1 modern glyph inspection (4 strokes = 厂 2 + 力 2). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 历 have?
4. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 历?
厂. The radical is how the character is filed in a dictionary — it is not the whole story of how the character is built.
What words use 历?
Common ones are 历史 and 经历. The reading of 历 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.