り

See also: り゚ and ŋ

り U+308A, り HIRAGANA LETTER RI ← ら [U+3089] Hiragana る → [U+308B]

Japanese

Stroke order

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɾʲi]

• Audio

  (file)

Etymology 1

Derived in the Heian period from writing the man'yōgana kanji 利 in the cursive sōsho style.

Syllable

り • (ri) 

1. The hiragana syllable り (ri). Its equivalent in katakana is リ (ri). It is the fortieth syllable in the gojūon order; its position is ら行い段 (ra-gyō i-dan, “row ra, section i”).

See also

The Hiragana script
あぁ	かゕがか゚	さざ	ただ	な	はばぱ	ま	やゃ	らら゚	わゎわ゙	ん
いぃ	きぎき゚	しじ	ちぢ	に	ひびぴ	み	𛀆	りり゚	ゐ𛅐ゐ゙
うぅゔ	くぐく゚	すず	つっづ	ぬ	ふぶぷ	む	ゆゅ	るる゚	𛄟
えぇ	けゖげけ゚	せぜ	てで	ね	へべぺ	め	𛀁	れれ゚	ゑ𛅑ゑ゙
おぉ	こごこ゚	そぞ	とど	の	ほぼぽ	も	よょ	ろろ゚	を𛅒を゙
Additional symbols ーゝゞゟ

Etymology 2

Originally the classical copula verb あり (ari, “it is”) following a verb in the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”).

The -i ending of the preceding verb stem contracted with the initial a- in ari to form -eri, which was reanalyzed as the 已然形 (izenkei, “realis form”, corresponding to the modern hypothetical form) or 命令形 (meireikei, “imperative form”) of the verb stem for 四段活用 (yodan katsuyō, “quadrigrade conjugation”) verbs, or the 未然形 (mizenkei, “irrealis or incomplete form”) for サ変動詞 (sa-hen dōshi, “sa-irregular verbs”), all of which ended in -e, with the final -ri then viewed as a suffix.

Example: 降り (furi, continuative stem of 降る (furu)) + あり (ari) → 降れり (fureri), reanalyzed as 降れ (fure, realis or imperative form of 降る (furu)) + り (-ri)

Research into 上代特殊仮名遣い (jōdai tokushu kanazukai, “ancient special spellings”) clarified the -e vowel value as ⟨e₁⟩, showing that the original form could not have been the 已然形 (izenkei, “realis form”) that ended in ⟨e₂⟩. Ancient ⟨e₁⟩ was also known to appear from fusion of -i and a-, and this revealed the much simpler original structure of a verb in the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) for either quadrigrade or sa-irregular verbs + あり (ari).

Originally denoted ongoing state or action, or the resulting state of an action. The sense later shifted to indicate the completion of an action. Compare the modern construction ～てある (~te aru).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɾʲi]

• In Tokyo speech, the verb + り (-ri) construction always has the accent on the penultimate mora, regardless of the underlying verb. This is also true if the suffix appears in the adnominal form る (-ru).

Suffix

り • (-ri) ^†-ri

1. (archaic) Used to form the stative of verbs: did; have done

   新(しん)世(せ)界(かい)より来(き)たれり

   shinsekai yori kitareri

   hath come from the new world

   図(ず)版(はん)を省(しょう)略(りゃく)せる鳥(ちょう)類(るい)目(もく)録(ろく)

   zuhan o shōryaku seru chōrui mokuroku

   an ornithological catalogue with illustrations omitted

Usage notes

This word is classified as 助動詞 (jodōshi, “auxiliary verb”) in traditional Japanese grammar. It is morphologically an inflectional suffix.

Attaches by changing the -u of godan verbs to -eri, suru to seri, and kuru to keri. The result can be further conjugated like an r-irregular verb; for example, the adnominal form ends in -eru.

Inflection rules for the り form

Word	dictionary form	-eri form	-eru form
godan verbs (type 1)
書く	かく (káꜜkù)	かけり (kàkéꜜrì)	かける (kàkéꜜrù)
泳ぐ	およぐ (òyóꜜgù)	およげり (òyógéꜜrì)	およげる (òyógéꜜrù)
話す	はなす (hànáꜜsù)	はなせり (hànáséꜜrì)	はなせる (hànáséꜜrù)
待つ	まつ (máꜜtsù)	まてり (màtéꜜrì)	まてる (màtéꜜrù)
死ぬ	しぬ (shìnú)	しねり (shìnéꜜrì)	しねる (shìnéꜜrù)
呼ぶ	よぶ (yòbú)	よべり (yòbéꜜrì)	よべる (yòbéꜜrù)
読む	よむ (yóꜜmù)	よめり (yòméꜜrì)	よめる (yòméꜜrù)
作る	つくる (tsùkúꜜrù)	つくれり (tsùkúréꜜrì)	つくれる (tsùkúréꜜrù)
買う	かう (kàú)	かえり (kàéꜜrì)	かえる (kàéꜜrù)
irregular verbs (type 3)
する	する (sùrú)	せり (séꜜrì)	せる (séꜜrù)
くる	くる (kúꜜrù)	けり (kéꜜrì)	ける (kéꜜrù)

Classical conjugation of "り" (ラ行変格活用, see Appendix:Japanese verbs.)

Stem forms
Irrealis (未然形)	ら	ら	-ra
Continuative (連用形)	り	り	-ri
Terminal (終止形)	り	り	-ri
Attributive (連体形)	る	る	-ru
Realis (已然形)	れ	れ	-re
Imperative (命令形)	れ	れ	-re
Key constructions
Negative	らず	らず	-razu
Contrasting conjunction	れど	れど	-redo
Causal conjunction	れば	れば	-reba
Conditional conjunction	らば	らば	-raba
Past tense (firsthand knowledge)	りき	りき	-riki
Past tense (secondhand knowledge)	りけり	りけり	-rikeri
Perfect tense (conscious action)	りつ	りつ	-ritu
Perfect tense (natural event)	りぬ	りぬ	-rinu
Perfect-continuative tense	りたり[1]	りたり	-ritari
Volitional	らむ	らむ	-ramu
[1]Often proscribed due to a redundancy of having 2 あり.

The adnominal form of the ending, -eru, is easily confused with the potential ending for godan verbs. Note that the former is always accented, but the latter is only accented when the underlying verb is.

• Unaccented verb 買(か)う (/kàú/): stative /kàéꜜrù/, potential /kàérú/
• Accented verb 読(よ)む (/yóꜜmù/): stative and potential /yòméꜜrù/

In Classical Japanese, this ending is usually not used on r-irregular verbs, because it is a contraction of -i + ari and r-irregular verbs already incorporate an etymological ari.

See also

• たり (tari)

Etymology 3

Probably ultimately deriving from the classical copula verb あり (ari, “it is”), used adverbially to denote the state or manner of an action.

Used to form adverbs from some onomatopoeias or ideophones. Appears to have been productive up through the Early Middle Japanese of the late Heian period, possibly also in the early stages of the Late Middle Japanese of the Kamakura period. In the modern language, this suffix persists in existing words, but it is not used to form any new words.

Suffix

り • (-ri) 

1. (non-productive) adverb-forming suffix following some onomatopoeias or ideophones

   きら (kira) → きらり (kirari)

   べた (beta) → べたり (betari) → べったり (bettari)

   ほの (hono) → ほんのり (honnori)

Usage notes

• In modern usage, many of these adverbs exhibit gemination, as shown above.
• Parallel forms may include reduplication of the root onomatopoeia or ideophone, or the root plus adverbial と (to), often also exhibiting gemination:
  • きら (kira) → きらきら (kirakira); きら (kira) → きらっと (kiratto)
  • べた (beta) → べたべた (betabeta); べた (beta) → べたっと (betatto)
  • ほの (hono) → ほのぼの (honobono)
• In most cases, these different forms constitute a cluster of synonyms based on the core meaning of the root onomatopoeia or ideophone.

Etymology 4

Shortening of りょ (ryo), from shortening of 了(りょう)解(かい) (ryōkai).

Noun

り • (ri) 

1. (text messaging slang) short for 了解 (ryōkai, “understand”)

Etymology 5

For pronunciation and definitions of り – see the following entries.

【里】2 [noun] a unit of distance: [noun] under the 律令 (Ritsuryō) system, defined as equal to 300 歩 (bu) or 1500 尺 (shaku) [noun] from the early modern until the end of the Edo period, defined as equal to 36 町 (chō), approximately between 3.6 to 4.2 kilometers [noun] from the mid-Meiji period, defined as equal to 129,600⁄33 meters, approximately 3.927 kilometers or 2.44 miles [noun] (historical) under the 律令 (Ritsuryō) system, a unit of area for regional administration, equal to 50 戸 (ko, “houses”) [affix] village

【理】2 [noun] reason, logic

【利】4 [noun] profit, benefit, advantage [verb] to benefit

(This term, り, is the hiragana spelling of the above terms.) For a list of all kanji read as り, see Category:Japanese kanji read as り.)

(The following entries are uncreated: 裏, 吏, 痢, 履, 離, 俚, 詈, 罹.)