沥 (lì) is a Chinese character meaning “to trickle”. It is written from 氵 (water (left-side form)) and 历 (to go through; past), side by side, and takes 7 strokes.
Build the character for “to trickle; to drip”
Four steps: break it apart, build it, recall it, use it in a word.
StartLearn this character
Structure
氵 + 历
Left–right structure
Structure from: modern-glyph decomposition verified against hanzi-writer-data strokes (3 + 4 = 7)
Memory aid
Water (氵) that has to go through (历) something narrow comes out only drop by drop — 沥 is liquid trickling and draining away.
This is a memory aid, not the historical origin.
Stroke order
7 strokes
In real words
- 沥青lì qīngasphalt; bitumen; pitch沥 = lì
- 沥干lì gānto drain dry; to let the liquid drip off沥 = lì
Go deeper
All readings
to trickle
to trickle; to drip; to drain off liquid
液体一滴一滴地落下；把水滤干。 — studyhanzi 编写
Words with this reading
- 沥青lì qīngasphalt; bitumen; pitch沥 = lì
- 沥干lì gānto drain dry; to let the liquid drip off沥 = lì
Sound component
历 family exact
Stroke data: hanzi-writer-data (Arphic Public License) · licenses & attributions
Questions people ask about this character
What does 沥 mean?
沥 (lì) means to trickle; to drip; to drain off liquid.
How do you pronounce 沥?
It is pronounced lì.
What parts is 沥 made of?
氵 (water (left-side form)) and 历 (to go through; past), side by side. The recorded source is: modern-glyph decomposition verified against hanzi-writer-data strokes (3 + 4 = 7). Components are the building blocks of the shape; the radical used for dictionary lookup is a separate thing.
How many strokes does 沥 have?
7. You can watch the stroke order on this page, or trace it yourself.
What is the radical of 沥?
水. 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 沥?
Common ones are 沥青 and 沥干. The reading of 沥 is not the same in every word, so each word on this page shows which reading applies.