砥礪

简 砥砺 · 繁 砥礪
Mandarin · pinyin dǐ lì

Meanings

  1. whetstone
  2. (lit. and fig.) to hone; to sharpen
  3. to encourage
Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

砥
dǐ · a whetstone; to polish
礪
Look up this written character
砺
lì · whetstone; sharpen
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

3–4 · di3 li4

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

2character links
Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗
Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.
Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 3 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

dai2 lai6

Cantonese word readings for 砥礪. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

verb

  1. to sharpen up; to undergo hard training; to strengthen
  2. to encourage; to motivate

noun

  1. grindstone; whetstone

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack