li
/liː/noun
li is spelled L-I: 2 letters and one syllable. It appears 18 times per million words in written English, the 4,667th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “lee vs li” about 50 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, li means “The Chinese mile, a traditional unit of distance equal to 1500 chis or 150 zhangs, now standardized as a half-kilometer (500 meters)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of li is lis.
How many letters and syllables are in li?
| Letters | 2: L-I |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 18 times per million words; the 4,667th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How common is li?
Li appears 18 times per million words in written English, the 4,667th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce li?
- /liː/
Li has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-li.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with li
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: lee.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of li
- lis plural
- ri
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does li mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The Chinese mile, a traditional unit of distance equal to 1500 chis or 150 zhangs, now standardized as a half-kilometer (500 meters).
- 2
The Korean mile, a traditional unit of distance equivalent to about 393 m.
- 3
A traditional Chinese unit of weight, equal to one-thousandth of a liang, or fifty milligrams.
- 4
A meaningful ceremony or ritual; etiquette, behaviour.
- 5
An ancient Chinese cauldron having three hollow legs.
- 6
In solfège, the raised sixth note of a major scale (the note A-sharp in the fixed-do system).
noun
- 1
Abbreviation of love interest.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Li in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense Chinese unit of distance:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | li |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does li come from?
An early romanization of Chinese Mandarin 里 (lǐ). As a Korean unit, via the Yale romanization of Korean 리 (ri), from the Chinese distance.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).