HSK 6 · Time

历来 lìlái “always” in Chinese

Traditional 歷來

What 历来 means

  1. always
  2. throughout history
  3. throughout (a period of time)
  4. (of) all-time

How to say 历来

  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale历lì4th tone, falling
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale来lái2nd tone, rising

历来 in a sentence

  1. 他历来做事很认真。

    Tā lìlái zuòshì hěn rènzhēn.

    He has always been very careful in his work.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 这所学校历来重视外语教学。

    Zhè suǒ xuéxiào lìlái zhòngshì wàiyǔ jiàoxué.

    This school has always valued foreign language teaching.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 历来 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 历 (lì) with each of its parts in a different colour
历lìcalendar
  • 厂cliff · hǎn
  • 力strength · lìSound part

厤 hints at the meaning (to calculate); 力 (lì) hints at the sound. Compare it with lì.

The character 来 (lái) with each of its parts in a different colour
来láito come
  • 未part of the character
  • 丷eight form of 八 · bā

Memory aidDrawn from a stalk of wheat. It was borrowed early on for “to come”.

How to write 历来

历 4 strokes · 来 7 strokes

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

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

Words related to 历来

Words with 历

历史lìshǐ · history经历jīnglì · experience日历rìlì · calendar学历xuélì · educational background简历jiǎnlì · curriculum vitae (CV)历代lìdài · successive dynasties农历nónglì · lunar calendar来历láilì · origin

Words with 来

来lái · to come出来chūlái · to come out过来guòlái · to come over回来huílai · to return进来jìnlái · to come in上来shànglái · to come up下来xiàlai · to come down后来hòulái · afterwards起来qǐlai · beginning or continuing an action带来dàilái · to bring (about)

More words: Time & Sequence

近来jìnlái · recently及早jízǎo · as early as possible连年liánnián · for years in a row历代lìdài · successive dynasties黎明límíng · dawn凌晨língchén · early morning屡次lǚcì · repeatedly漫长màncháng · very long

FAQs

历来 (lìlái) means “always” or “throughout history”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it lìlái: lì with a 4th tone, then lái with a 2nd 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, 历来 is written 歷來. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type lilai with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 历来 from the suggestions. Typing lilai into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
历来 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.