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

Stroke order

• IPA^(key): [ɾʲi]

• Audio:

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Derived in theHeian period from writing theman'yōgana kanji利 in thecursivesōsho style.

り• (ri) 

1. Thehiragana syllableり(ri). Its equivalent inkatakana isリ(ri). It is the fortieth syllable in thegojūon order; its position isら行い段(ra-gyō i-dan,“rowra, sectioni”).

Originally the classicalcopula verbあり(ari,“it is”) following a verb in the連用形(ren'yōkei,“continuative or stem form”).^[1]

The-i ending of the preceding verb stem contracted with the initiala- inari 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.^[1][2]

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 anda-, 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 orsa-irregular verbs +あり(ari).^[1]

Originally denoted ongoing state or action, or the resulting state of an action. The sense later shifted to indicate the completion of an action.^[1][2] Compare the modern construction〜てある(~te aru).

• 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).^[3]

り• (-ri) ^†-ri

1. (archaic)Used to form thestative of verbs:did;havedone

   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

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

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

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 etymologicalari.

• たり(tari)

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

Used to form adverbs from someonomatopoeias orideophones. Appears to have beenproductive up through theEarly Middle Japanese of the lateHeian period, possibly also in the early stages of theLate Middle Japanese of theKamakura period. In the modern language, this suffix persists in existing words, but it is not used to form any new words.

り• (-ri) 

1. (non-productive)adverb-forming suffix following someonomatopoeias orideophones

   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)

• In modern usage, many of these adverbs exhibitgemination, as shown above.
• Parallel forms may includereduplication of the rootonomatopoeia orideophone, 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 rootonomatopoeia orideophone.

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

り• (ri) 

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

(The following entries do not have a page created for them yet:裏,吏,痢,履,俚,詈,罹.)

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