伶俐
líng​lì

clever

伶 ling lonely

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 令 represents the sound.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

令
令 Sound component
lìng command

Character Evolution

Seal form
Seal Western Han 202 BC-9 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld Chinese
Zhengzhangreːŋ
Unicodeleng

說文解字

弄也。从人令聲。益州有建伶縣。

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Zhengzhang Shangfang
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

俐 lì smooth

Phonosemantic compound. 亻 represents the meaning and 利 represents the sound.

Components

亻
亻 Meaning component
rén person

亻 is a component form of 人.

利
利 Sound component
lì, li benefit

Sources

Readings & variants
Unicode