Example sentences
wǒ我jiā家lí离xué学xiào校hěn很jìn近。
My home is close to school.
zhè这lǐ里lí离huǒ火chē车zhàn站yuǎn远ma吗？
Is it far from the train station?
The story behind the character
离
The traditional form is 離, and 離 was a bird. 隹 sits on the right, 离 on the left, and Xu Shen defined 離 as 黃倉庚也, the oriole, adding 鳴則蠶生, "when it calls, the silkworms hatch." So this character was a bird long before it meant to leave. Simplification dropped the 隹, and the bird flew off.