千里

Mandarin · pinyin qiān lǐ

Meanings

  1. a thousand miles
  2. a thousand li (i.e. 500 kilometers)
  3. a long distance
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Characters in this entry

千
qiān · thousand; many, numerous; very; (Cant.) a cheater, swindler
里
lǐ · unit of distance; village; lane; Kangxi radical 166
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–3 · qian1 li3

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Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

noun

  1. (figuratively) any great distance
  2. (abbreviation, alt-of) short for 千里馬 (qiānlǐmǎ, “fine horse; fine steed; fast horse”)

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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