来
to come; (used as a substitute for a more specific verb); hither (directional complement for motion toward the speaker, as in 回來|回来[hui2 lai5]); ever since (as in 自古以來|自古以来[zi4 gu3 yi3 lai2]); for the past (amount of time); (prefix) the coming ...; the next ... (as in 來世|来世[lai2 shi4]); (between two verbs) in order to; (after a round number) approximately; (used after 得[de2] to indicate possibility, as in 談得來|谈得来[tan2 de5 lai2], or after 不[bu4] to indicate impossibility, as in 吃不來|吃不来[chi1 bu5 lai2])
How 来 is formed
Ideographic compound (会意字)
A wheat plant that has not yet borne fruit; compare 來
How to remember it
come · Heisig RSH #783
一 one + 米 rice
Keyword method from Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi.
Characters built with 来 as their sound component
These characters all use 来 (lái) as their phonetic component — compare how they read:
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 来 sound component | lái | to arrive, to come, to return; in the future, later on |
| 莱 | lái | weed, goosefoot; fallow field; used in transliterations |
| 赉 | lài | to bestow, to confer; surname |
| 崃 | lái | a mountain in Sichuan province |
| 涞 | lái | ripple; brook; a river in Hebei province |
| 睐 | lài | to squint at; a sidelong glance |
| 徕 | lái | to entice, to solicit; to encourage customers to come |
| 梾 | lái | dogwood; Cornus macrophylla |
| 铼 | lái | rhenium |
Words containing 来
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 马来人 | Mǎ lái rén | Malay person or people |
| 自来水 | zì lái shuǐ | running water; tap water |
| 马来西亚人 | Mǎ lái xī yà rén | Malaysian person or people |
| 来安县 | Lái ān Xiàn | Lai'an, a county in Chuzhou City 滁州市[Chu2 zhou1 Shi4], Anhui |
| 下不来 | xià bù lái | awkward; embarrassed; cannot be accomplished |
| 一来 | yī lái | firstly, ... |
| 合不来 | hé bù lái | (of people) to be incompatible; to not get along; to be unable to see eye to eye |
| 马来文 | Mǎ lái wén | Malay language |
| 马来西亚 | Mǎ lái xī yà | Malaysia |
| 来头 | lái tóu | cause; reason; interest; influence |
| 马来西亚语 | Mǎ lái xī yà yǔ | Malaysian Malay (the official variety of Malay spoken in Malaysia) |
| 来生 | lái shēng | next life |
| 生来 | shēng lái | from birth; by one's nature |
| 外来人 | wài lái rén | foreigner |
| 尔来 | ěr lái | (literary) recently; lately; hitherto |
| 马来 | Mǎ lái | Malaya; Malaysia |
| 下不来台 | xià bù lái tái | to be put on the spot; to find oneself in an awkward situation |
| 来自 | lái zì | to come from (a place); From: (in email header) |
| 自来 | zì lái | from the beginning; always; to come of one's own accord |
| 马来亚 | Mǎ lái yà | Malaya |