🌏 Region(s): Ryukyu (Okinawa)
りー【礼・禮】 : rii | define meaning
rii
Pronunciation: [ɾiː]
Definition
Noun
- Bow (one's head); bowing
- Courtesy; etiquette; manners
Etymology
Cognate with standard Japanese れい【礼・禮】 rei "bow". Ultimately from Chinese 【禮・礼】 "ceremony; etiquette" (cf. Mandarin lǐ; Cantonese lai5; Eastern Min lā̤; Hokkien lé; Sino-Korean 례 rye and 예 ye; Sino-Vietnamese lễ), reconstructed for Middle Chinese as *lejX.
Historical Ryukyuan attestations
- Vocabulary of the language spoken at the Great Loo-Choo Island, in the Japan Sea (1818), by Herbert John Clifford, records "Bow to, to a person passing. Deéshoong".
Notes
Variant:
でぃー dii
Spelling
| Orthography | Form |
|---|---|
| Kanji | 礼 禮 |
| Kana | りー |
| Romanization | rii |
| Pronunciation (IPA) | [ɾiː] |
意味：れい【礼・禮】
礼
Cite this entry: Read, Zachary. (2025, November 24). りー【礼・禮】 : rii | define meaning. JLect: Japonic Languages and Dialects Database. Retrieved 2025, December 5, from https://www.jlect.com/entry/7966/rii/.