粒

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粒	U+7C92, 粒 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-7C92

← 粑
[U+7C91]

CJK Unified Ideographs

粓 →
[U+7C93]

粒	U+F9F9, 粒 CJK COMPATIBILITY IDEOGRAPH-F9F9

← 笠
[U+F9F8]

CJK Compatibility Ideographs

狀 →
[U+F9FA]

Translingual

Han character

粒 (Kangxi radical 119, 米+5, 11 strokes, cangjie input 火木卜廿 (FDYT), four-corner 9091₈, composition ⿰米立)

Derived characters

𨅀, 𩻑

References

Kangxi Dictionary: page 907, character 22
Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 26884
Dae Jaweon: page 1333, character 7
Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3145, character 12
Unihan data for U+7C92

Unihan data for U+F9F9

Chinese

trad.		粒
simp. ^#		粒

Glyph origin

Historical forms of the character 粒
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Small seal script

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

	Old Chinese
涖	rɯːbs, rɯbs
莅	rɯbs, rɯbs
蒞	*rɯbs
位	*ɢʷrɯbs
拉	*ruːb
菈	*ruːb
颯	*sluːb
立	*rɯb
粒	*rɯb
笠	*ɡ·rɯb
砬	*rɯb
岦	*rɯb
苙	ɡ·rɯb, ɡrɯb
鴗	*rɯb
雴	*r̥ʰɯb
泣	*kʰrɯb

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *rɯb) : semantic 米 (“rice”) + phonetic 立 (OC *rɯb).

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Standard)
(Pinyin): lì (li⁴)

(Zhuyin): ㄌㄧˋ

(Nanjing, Nanjing Pinyin): li̊q
Cantonese (Jyutping): nap¹ / lap¹
Hakka
(Sixian, PFS): lia̍p

(Meixian, Guangdong): lêb⁵
Eastern Min (BUC): lăk
Southern Min
(Hokkien, POJ): lia̍p / li̍p

(Teochew, Peng'im): liab⁸

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/
- (Standard Chinese, erhua-ed) (粒兒／粒儿)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: lìr
  - Zhuyin: ㄌㄧˋㄦ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: lìr
  - Wade–Giles: li⁴-ʼrh
  - Yale: lìr
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: liell
  - Palladius: лир (lir)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /liə̯ɻ⁵¹/
- (Nanjing)
  - Nanjing Pinyin: li̊q
  - Nanjing Pinyin (numbered): liq⁵
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /liʔ⁵/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
  - Jyutping: nap¹ / lap¹
  - Yale: nāp / lāp
  - Cantonese Pinyin: nap⁷ / lap⁷
  - Guangdong Romanization: neb¹ / leb¹
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /nɐp̚⁵/, /lɐp̚⁵/
Hakka
- (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
  - Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: lia̍p
  - Hakka Romanization System: liab
  - Hagfa Pinyim: liab⁶
  - Sinological IPA: /li̯ap̚⁵/
- (Meixian)
  - Guangdong: lêb⁵
  - Sinological IPA: /lɛp̚¹/
Eastern Min
- (Fuzhou)
  - Bàng-uâ-cê: lăk
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /l̃aʔ⁵/
Southern Min
- (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: lia̍p
  - Tâi-lô: lia̍p
  - Phofsit Daibuun: liap
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /liap̚²⁴/
  - IPA (Zhangzhou): /liap̚¹²¹/
  - IPA (Xiamen, Taipei, Kaohsiung): /liap̚⁴/
- (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: li̍p
  - Tâi-lô: li̍p
  - Phofsit Daibuun: lip
  - IPA (Xiamen): /lip̚⁴/
  - IPA (Zhangzhou): /lip̚¹²¹/
  - IPA (Quanzhou): /lip̚²⁴/

Note:

lia̍p - vernacular (“grain; small particle; classifier for small, round objects; classifier for any round, solid objects; with hard grains and not mushy”);
li̍p - literary.

(Teochew)
- Peng'im: liab⁸
- Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: lia̍p
- Sinological IPA ^(key): /liap̚⁴/

Middle Chinese: lip

Rime
Character	粒
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	來 (37)
Final (韻)	緝 (141)
Tone (調)	Checked (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	III
Fanqie	力入切
Baxter	lip
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/liɪp̚/
Pan Wuyun	/lip̚/
Shao Rongfen	/ljep̚/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/lip̚/
Li Rong	/liəp̚/
Wang Li	/lĭĕp̚/
Bernard Karlgren	/li̯əp̚/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	lì
Expected Cantonese Reflex	lap⁶

Old Chinese
(Baxter–Sagart): /*p.rəp/

(Zhengzhang): /*rɯb/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	粒
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	lì
Middle Chinese	‹ lip ›
Old Chinese	/*p.rəp/
English	grains of rice
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.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	粒
Reading #	1/1
No.	7870
Phonetic component	立
Rime group	緝
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	立
Old Chinese	/*rɯb/

Definitions

粒

grain
- 誰知盤中餐，粒粒皆辛苦？ [Classical Chinese, trad.]
  谁知盘中餐，粒粒皆辛苦？ [Classical Chinese, simp.]
  From: Tang Dynasty, 李紳 [Li Shen], 憫農 [Pitying the Farmer]
  Shéi zhī pán zhōng cān, lì lì jiē xīnkǔ? [Pinyin]
  Who is aware that every grain of the meal in the plate is of toil?
small particle
Classifier for small, round objects: granule, grain, particle, piece ⇒ all nouns using this classifier
一粒米 ― yī lì mǐ ― a grain of rice

一粒糖 [Cantonese] ― jat¹ lap¹ tong^4-2 [Jyutping] ― a piece of candy
(Hokkien, Eastern Min, Taiwanese, Singapore and Malaysian Mandarin) Classifier for any round, solid objects.
一粒西瓜 ― yī lì xīguā ― a watermelon
- 故鄉彼粒山　永遠徛佇遐　毋知幾冬 [Taiwanese Hokkien, trad.]
  故乡彼粒山　永远徛伫遐　毋知几冬 [Taiwanese Hokkien, simp.]
  From: 2018, 許富凱 and 蔡佳麟 (lyricist 徐偉銘), 《疼憨人》
  kò͘-hiong hit lia̍p soaⁿ, éng-oán khiā tī hia, m̄ chai kúi tang [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]
  The mountain in my hometown stands there forever, for who knows how many years.
(Hokkien) with hard grains and not mushy (of rice)
(Cantonese) Classifier for hours.
(Cantonese) Classifier for offspring.
(Cantonese) Classifier for pips (insignia).
(Cantonese, by extension) high-ranking police officer; police officer with pips
(Cantonese, slang) Classifier for money: ten thousand yuan, dollars, etc.
Synonym: 個／个

Compounds

References

“粒”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
“Entry #7738”, in 臺灣閩南語常用詞辭典 [Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwan Minnan] (overall work in Mandarin and Hokkien), Ministry of Education, R.O.C., 2023.

Japanese

Kanji

粒

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

grains
drop
counter for tiny particles

counter for small round objects including grains, seeds, pills, drops

Korean

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 粒 (MC lip). Recorded as Middle Korean 립〮 (líp) (Yale: lip) in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會 / 훈몽자회), 1527.

Hanja

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

粒

Wikisource

粒 (eumhun 알 립 (al rip), word-initial (South Korea) 알 입 (al ip))

Hanja form^? of 립/입 (“grain”).

Compounds

입자 (粒子, ipja, “particle”)
과립 (顆粒, gwarip, “granule”)
미립자 (微粒子, miripja, “corpuscle”)

References

국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [2]