吕 (lǚ) · surname Lü, pitch pipe (in traditional music theory)

Meanings

1 surname Lü
2 pitch pipe (in traditional music theory)
3 one of the twelve semitones in classical Chinese music

Characters

吕

lǚ

spine; pitchpipe; surname Lü

Examples

HSK 5

吕不韦是秦国的著名政治家。

Lǚ Bùwéi shì Qínguó de zhùmíng zhèngzhìjiā.

Lü Buwei was a famous statesman of the Qin state.

HSK 6

古代音乐以十二律吕为基础。

Gǔdài yīnyuè yǐ shí'èr lǜ lǚ wéi jīchǔ.

Ancient music was based on the twelve pitch pipes.

Tips

usage

As a surname, 吕 is romanized as Lü or Lu with an umlaut. It's a common surname in China. In music theory, 律 and 吕 together (十二律吕) refer to the twelve-tone system in classical Chinese music.

Components

radical

口 kǒu

mouth; opening

Top 口 is the mouth radical, here used graphically as a small enclosed square, originally one of two linked vertebrae or one of two paired bells / mouths. Indexes 吕 by Kangxi convention. Repeating 口 stacked also features in 串, 品 (three mouths = quality), each using the mouth shape for different visual ideas.

semantic

口 kǒu

mouth; opening

Bottom 口 is the second of two stacked enclosures, originally depicting either two linked vertebrae of a spine or a pair of pitch-pipes (the early meaning of 律 / 吕 in music theory). The doubled form gives 吕 its visual signature: two squares stacked, often joined by a small connecting stroke in handwritten forms.