HSK 4 · Adjectives

礼貌 lǐmào “courtesy” in Chinese

Traditional 禮貌

What 礼貌 means

  1. courtesy
  2. politeness
  3. manners
  4. courteous
  5. polite

How to say 礼貌

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale礼lǐ3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale貌mào4th tone, falling

礼貌 in a sentence

  1. 那个护士人很好，又有礼貌。

    Nà ge hùshi rén hěn hǎo, yòu yǒu lǐmào.

    That nurse is very kind and polite.

    Sentence #463855 from Tatoeba

  2. 他真的很没礼貌。

    Tā zhēn de hěn méi lǐmào.

    He’s really rude.

    Sentence #10696112 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

  3. 吃饭时发出声音是不礼貌的。

    Chīfàn shí fāchū shēngyīn shì bù lǐmào de.

    It’s bad manners to make noise while you eat.

    Sentence #2075160 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 礼貌 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 礼 (lǐ) with each of its parts in a different colour
礼lǐgift
  • 礻sign form of 示 · shìMeaning part
  • 乚second (cyclical) form of 乙 · yǐSound part

礻 hints at the meaning (sign); 乚 (yǐ) hints at the sound. Compare it with lǐ.

The character 貌 (mào) with each of its parts in a different colour
貌màoappearance; looks; outward form
  • 豸badger · zhì
  • 皃countenance · mào

How to write 礼貌

礼 5 strokes · 貌 14 strokes

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

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

Words related to 礼貌

Words with 礼

礼物lǐwù · gift礼拜天Lǐbàitiān · Sunday婚礼hūnlǐ · wedding ceremony敬礼jìnglǐ · to salute典礼diǎnlǐ · ceremony礼节lǐjié · etiquette礼尚往来lǐshàngwǎnglái · courtesy calls for reciprocity

Words with 貌

面貌miànmào · appearance容貌róngmào · looks

More words: Adjectives

空kōng · empty困难kùnnan · difficult懒lǎn · lazy冷静lěngjìng · calm厉害lìhai · impressive凉快liángkuai · nice and cold流利liúlì · fluent流行liúxíng · popular

FAQs

礼貌 (lǐmào) means “courtesy” or “politeness”. It is an HSK 4 word.
Say it lǐmào: lǐ with a 3rd tone, then mào 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, 礼貌 is written 禮貌. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type limao with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 礼貌 from the suggestions. Typing limao into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
礼貌 is an HSK 4 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.