How to Write 喱 (lí) — Meaning “curry (used in 咖喱)”

Imagine you are eating spicy curry and you need to say "里" (inside) with your mouth (口) because the curry is inside your mouth. The 口 on the left and 厘 on the right combine to make the sound lí, just like the "li" in "curry."

Write the radical 口 (mouth) first as a small square on the left, then the right part 厘 from top to bottom. The 厂-like stroke of 厘 should extend leftward slightly under the 口, and the bottom 里 must be balanced so the whole character is not too wide. A common mistake is making the 口 too big or misaligning the vertical strokes.

喱 (lí) has a 口 on the left and 厘 on the right, used only in "咖喱" (curry). 㕡 (hè) is extremely rare, with a 口 on top of a complex bottom, unrelated to curry. 哥 (gē) means 'older brother' and has two 可 stacked, with no 口 radical on the left. Unlike these, 喱 never appears alone—it always follows 咖.

喱 is only used in the word 咖喱 (gālí, curry), a loanword from English via Cantonese or Malay. You will see it in food names like 咖喱粉 (curry powder) and 咖喱鸡 (curry chicken). In Chinese cuisine, curry is popular in Hong Kong and Shanghai, but not a traditional Chinese spice; it is associated with Southeast Asian and Indian flavors.

Common words containing 喱 include: 咖喱 (gā lí) — curry; 咖喱粉 (gā lí fěn) — curry powder; 咖喱鸡 (gā lí jī) — curry chicken.