HSK 6 · Verbs

理睬 lǐcǎi “to pay attention to” in Chinese

Said as lícǎi

Same in Traditional

What 理睬 means

  1. to pay attention to
  2. to take notice of
  3. to heed

How to say 理睬

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale理lǐ3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale睬cǎi3rd tone, dipping

Said as lícǎi. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. How tone changes work

理睬 in a sentence

  1. 我跟他打招呼,他却不理睬我。

    Wǒ gēn tā dǎzhāohu, tā què bù lǐcǎi wǒ.

    I said hello to him, but he ignored me.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 别理睬那些闲话。

    Bié lǐcǎi nàxiē xiánhuà.

    Don’t pay any attention to that gossip.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 理睬 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 理 (lǐ) with each of its parts in a different colour
理lǐtexture
  • 王king · wángMeaning part
  • 里village · lǐSound part

王 hints at the meaning (king); 里 (lǐ) hints at the sound. Compare it with lǐ.

Memory aid王 here is jade 玉: cutting jade along its grain. 里 (lǐ) gives the sound: to put in order, reason.

The character 睬 (cǎi) with each of its parts in a different colour
睬cǎito pay attention
  • 目eye · mùMeaning part
  • 采to collect · cǎiSound part

目 hints at the meaning (eye); 采 (cǎi) hints at the sound. Compare it with cǎi.

How to write 理睬

理 11 strokes · 睬 13 strokes

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

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

Words related to 理睬

Words with 理

More words: Thinking & Talking

FAQs

理睬 (lǐcǎi) means “to pay attention to” or “to take notice of”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it lǐcǎi: lǐ with a 3rd tone, then cǎi with a 3rd tone. In speech it sounds like lícǎi. When two third tones meet, the first one rises into a second tone. You still write it with two third tones. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 理睬 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type licai with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 理睬 from the suggestions. Typing licai into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
理睬 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 written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.