Stroke order

利 (Kangxi radical 18, 刀+5, 7 strokes, cangjie input 竹木中弓 (HDLN), four-corner 2290₀, composition ⿰禾刂)

• 俐 唎 娳 悧 浰 猁 梸 琍 脷 䂰 蜊 誗 鋓 鯏 𥚥 䬆 𢈱 痢
• 悡 梨 犁 㴝 𪏭 䖽 鋫 䱘 䵩 峲 莉 筣 鬁

• り
• リ

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 138, character 19
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 1932
• Dae Jaweon: page 313, character 8
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 329, character 2
• Unihan data for U+5229

• Unihan data for U+F9DD

Historical forms of the character 利
Shang	Western Zhou	Warring States	Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Oracle bone script	Bronze inscriptions	Chu slip and silk script	Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Ideogrammic compound (會意／会意) : 禾 (“grain”) + 刀 (“knife”) – to reap grain (禾) with a knife (刀). See also the variant 𥝢, which appears on top of the character 黎.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ri:t (“to reap, scrape, shave, cut, sever”) (STEDT, Schuessler, 2007); cognate to Mizo rîit (“to scrap with a hoe”), Western Gurung [script needed] (wriqba, “to scratch”), Burmese ရိတ် (rit, “to cut, reap, mow shave”).

利

1. benefit; advantage
2. profit

   薄利多銷／薄利多销  ―  bólìduōxiāo  ―  small profits but quick returns

3. (finance) interest

   高利貸／高利贷  ―  gāolìdài  ―  usury; high-interest loan

4. to benefit; to be beneficial to
5. favourable; successful
6. sharp; sharp-edge
7. Used in transcription.

   保加利亞／保加利亚  ―  Bǎojiālìyà  ―  Bulgaria

   利比亞／利比亚  ―  Lìbǐyà  ―  Libya

   加利西亞／加利西亚  ―  Jiālìxīyà  ―  Galicia

   利馬／利马  ―  Lìmǎ  ―  Lima

   利物浦 [Shanghainese]  ―  ⁶li-veq₈-phu₅ [Wugniu]  ―  Liverpool

   比華利山／比华利山 [Cantonese]  ―  bei² waa⁴ lei⁶ saan¹ [Jyutping]  ―  Beverly Hills

   利安奴·美斯  ―  Lì'ānnú Měisī  ―  Leonel Messi

   雅達利／雅达利  ―  Yǎdálì  ―  Atari

8. a surname

   利希慎 [Cantonese]  ―  lei⁶ hei¹ san⁶ [Jyutping]  ―  Lee Hysan (Hong Kong opium merchant)

Others:

• → Vietnamese: lời

利

1. Used in 利市 (“red packets”).
2. (Cantonese) Used in 老利 (lou⁵ lai^6-2).

• “利”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎^[1], 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

(Fourth grade kyōiku kanji)

1. profit, benefit

• Go-on: り (ri, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: り (ri, Jōyō)
• Kun: きく (kiku, 利く, Jōyō)、よい (yoi, 利い)、するどい (surudoi, 利い)、とし (toshi, 利し)

From Middle Chinese 利 (MC lijH, “profit”).

• (Tokyo) り [ríꜜ] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1][2]
• IPA^(key): [ɾʲi]

利(り) • (ri) 

1. profit, benefit, advantage

• 害(がい) (gai, “damage”)

利(り)する • (ri suru) suru (stem 利(り)し (ri shi), past 利(り)した (ri shita))

1. to benefit

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Middle Korean readings, if any”)

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [ɾi]
• Phonetic hangul: [리]

Korean Wikisource has texts containing the hanja:

利

Wikisource

利 (eumhun 이로울 리 (iroul ri), word-initial (South Korea) 이로울 이 (iroul i))

1. hanja form^? of 리 (“benefit”)

• 복리 (福利, bongni, “welfare”)
• 이익 (利益, iik, “profit”)
• 이득 (利得, ideuk, “profit”)
• 이율 (利率, iyul, “interest rate”)
• 편리 (便利, pyeolli, “convenience”)

• 刂 (*-i) (gugyeol abbreviation)
• 伊 (*-i)
• 次 (*-i) (semantically adapted phonogram, potential variant)

利 (*-i)

1. and (connecting particle for nouns)
   • mid-6th century, Wooden Tablet #221 from Seongsan Sanseong, Haman:

     人次人嗚

     many people [lit. people and people] lamented

   • c. 965, 均如 (Gyunyeo), “隨喜功德歌 (Suhuigongdeok-ga)”, in 均如傳 (Gyunyeo-jeon) [Works of Gyunyeo]:

     佛伊衆生毛叱所只

     so that there is no [more] "Buddha and the sentient beings"

   • 10th century, Interpretive jeomto gugyeol glosses to Volume 20 of the Jinbon Avatamsaka Sutra:

     一切諸佛^刂菩薩

     Each and every Buddha and bodhisattva

利 (*-i) was used to denote particularly intimate connections between nouns, compared to 果 (*-kwa) which had a more general use. The particle was totally extinct by the fifteenth century, and has no known Middle Korean reflex.

The sixth-century attestation given above is the reading of the tablet by linguist Lee Seungjae, who is the only person so far to have interpreted the text. It is possible that future interpreters will analyze 次 differently.

• 果 (*-kwa, “and; with”, comitative case marker)

• 박진호 (Bak Jin-ho) (2007) “향가 해독과 국어 문법사 [Hyangga haedok-gwa gugeo munbeopsa, Hyangga interpretations and the history of Korean grammar]”, in Gugeohak, volume 51, pages 313–338
• 이승재 (Lee Seungjae) (2017) 木簡에 기록된 古代 韓國語 [Mokgan-e girokdoen Godae Han'gugeo, The Old Korean Language Inscribed on Wooden Tablets)], Ilchogak, →ISBN

利: Hán Việt readings: lợi^[1][2][3]
利: Nôm readings: lời^[1][2][3][4], lợi^[1][2][3], rời^[1][2], rơi^[1], ráy^[1], lì^[3], rị, lệ

1. chữ Hán form of lợi (“profit”).
2. Nôm form of lời (“profit; interest”).