HSK 6 · Adjectives

严厉 yánlì “strict” in Chinese

Traditional 嚴厲

What 严厉 means

  1. strict
  2. stern
  3. severe

How to say 严厉

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale严yán2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale厉lì4th tone, falling

严厉 in a sentence

  1. 他对懒惰的人很严厉。

    Tā duì lǎnduò de rén hěn yánlì.

    He’s very strict with lazy people.

    Sentence #718451 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  2. 他严厉却善良。

    Tā yánlì què shànliáng.

    He’s strict but kind.

    Sentence #13108935 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

  3. 我被那位老师严厉斥责了。

    Wǒ bèi nà wèi lǎoshī yánlì chìzé le.

    I was severely told off by that teacher.

    Sentence #802313 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 严厉 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 严 (yán) with each of its parts in a different colour
严yántight
  • 亚Asia · yà
  • 厂cliff · hǎn
The character 厉 (lì) with each of its parts in a different colour
厉lìstrict
  • 厂cliff · hǎn
  • 万ten thousand · mò

How to write 严厉

严 7 strokes · 厉 5 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

严厉 (yánlì) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 严厉 (yánlì). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 严厉

Words with 严

严格yángé · strict严重yánzhòng · grave严肃yánsù · solemn严峻yánjùn · severe严密yánmì · tight庄严zhuāngyán · solemn严禁yánjìn · to strictly prohibit严寒yánhán · bitter cold尊严zūnyán · dignity

Words with 厉

厉害lìhai · impressive再接再厉zàijiēzàilì · to keep up the good work

More words: Adjectives

悬殊xuánshū · very different虚假xūjiǎ · false虚伪xūwěi · hypocritical严峻yánjùn · severe严密yánmì · tight耀眼yàoyǎn · dazzling遥远yáoyuǎn · distant鸦雀无声yāquèwúshēng · silence reigns

FAQs

严厉 (yánlì) means “strict” or “stern”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it yánlì: yán with a 2nd tone, then lì with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 严厉 is written 嚴厲. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type yanli with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 严厉 from the suggestions. Typing yanli into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
严厉 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.