Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
li

li

1 9.9
A traditional Chinese unit of distance equal to about half a kilometre
  • noun
  • /li/
  • Specialized
: li
  • Gold County was sixty li away from Dismount Fort, and four passenger trains went there every day.

Examples

  • Gold County is sixty li away from Dismount Fort, which is about 30 kilometers.

  • We traveled a hundred and fifty li to come here to wipe out poisonous snakes and worms.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • About 60 li from here.

    Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)

  • In fact, it has traditionally been known to the Chinese as the Wan Li Chang Cheng, which translates to "Ten Thousand Li Long Wall," or "Long Wall of Ten Thousand Li" (li is a Chinese unit of length, with two li being equivalent to one kilometer).

    Blog text (21)

  • The temple is located just nine li from Ox Village, making it easy to visit.

  • We journeyed a hundred and fifty li to reach the festival in the next village.

Surface Forms

li singular
lis plural

Etymology

Li comes from the Chinese word lǐ, which long ago meant 'village' or a marker on a road and later became a unit of distance. A traditional li is about 0.5 kilometres, so thinking of it as the 'distance between villages', like a small 'mile', helps remember its modern meaning.