锂 Lithium character

What 锂 means

It is the Chinese character for lithium. The right-side component 里 supplies the sound; 钅 is a recurring metal marker in simplified Chinese characters, called a radical. The same marker appears in names for sodium 钠, magnesium 镁, aluminum 铝, and manganese 锰.

Lithium was identified from a mineral in 1817, and its name comes from Greek lithos, “stone.” In 1871, the Chinese chemistry book 化学鉴原 used 锂/鋰 as part of a program to coin concise Chinese names for imported elements.

Technical and literal; on its own, 锂 reads like a chemistry term.

鋰 is the traditional Chinese form of the same element.

Who writes 锂

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Related characters

6

鋰

CJK Unified Ideograph-92F0

Traditional Chinese counterpart of simplified 锂; both name the element lithium.

里

CJK Unified Ideograph-91Cc

The right-side component in 锂; it supplies the character’s sound.

钠

CJK Unified Ideograph-94A0

Simplified Chinese for sodium; like 锂, it uses the metal radical 钅.

镁

CJK Unified Ideograph-9541

Simplified Chinese for magnesium; like 锂, it uses the metal radical 钅.

铝

CJK Unified Ideograph-94Dd

Simplified Chinese for aluminum; like 锂, it uses the metal radical 钅.

锰

CJK Unified Ideograph-9530

Simplified Chinese for manganese; like 锂, it uses the metal radical 钅.

Combination ideas

3

Broad lithium-battery label; a 2025 Chinese civil-aviation guide distinguishes specific battery types.

Lithium-ion battery; a rechargeable category.

Lithium-metal battery, usually a non-rechargeable primary cell.

Questions people ask

1

Why does 锂 show as a box on some devices?

Because that device's fonts have no glyph for it. The character is still correct and still copies correctly — the box is a missing glyph, not a broken character.