Rice radical on the left — the indexing semantic. Pictograph of grains scattered around a central stem. 粒 specifically names a single grain or a granule of anything (a pearl, a pill, a bullet). Same radical heads 粉 powder, 粥 porridge, 糖 sugar, 糕 cake — the grain-and-powder family.
Right side 立 supplies the sound — an exact match: lì → lì, no drift. 立 pictures a person standing on the ground (大 over 一). Same phonetic appears in 拉 lā (drag), 泣 qì (weep), 笠 lì (bamboo hat) — a wide phonetic family unified by the *l-/*r- onset.
