栗 (lì) · chestnut (tree or nut)

Measure Word

一颗栗 kē

Meanings

1 chestnut (tree or nut)
2 to tremble; to shudder

Characters

栗

lì

chestnut; to tremble

Examples

HSK 4

这棵栗树已经有一百年了。

Zhè kē lì shù yǐjīng yǒu yìbǎi nián le.

This chestnut tree is already a hundred years old.

HSK 4

我最喜欢吃板栗。

Wǒ zuì xǐhuan chī bǎnlì.

I love eating chestnuts.

HSK 5

秋天街上到处都是卖糖炒栗子的。

Qiūtiān jiēshàng dàochù dōu shì mài tángchǎolìzi de.

In autumn, sugar-roasted chestnut vendors are everywhere on the streets.

Tips

usage

栗 alone is literary. In everyday speech, use 栗子 for chestnuts. Common compounds: 板栗 (Chinese chestnut), 糖炒栗子 (sugar-roasted chestnuts), 栗色 (maroon/chestnut color).

memory

The character has 木 (wood) at the bottom - it's a tree. The top part 西 (west) is a phonetic component. Don't confuse with 粟 (millet) which has 米 (rice) instead.

Components

radical

木 mù

tree; wood

Bottom tree radical - pictograph of a tree with branches above and roots below. The indexing radical here, supplying the basic meaning: 栗 names both the chestnut tree and its fruit. Combined with the spiny husk above, the picture is a tree bearing prickly-shelled nuts - the literary 'tremble' sense developed from the shivering image of the bristled husk.

semantic

覀 yà

covering top (drawn as a husked nut)

Top - visually the flat-bottomed cover form 覀 (variant of 西), but in 栗 this is a stylization of the original picture: a chestnut burr bristling with spines, the prickly husk around the nut. The shape gives 栗 its distinguishing image, separating it from plain 票 ticket which looks similar above the line.