The kanji 痢 primarily represents "dysentery" or "diarrhea," specifically referring to a disease characterized by inflammation of the intestines, typically with bloody stools. It signifies a condition involving intestinal upset and a need for frequent bowel movements.

・On-yomi (音読み): ・リ (ri) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): ・There are no commonly used Kun-yomi readings for this kanji.

⚫︎ 赤痢 Translation: dysentery ⚫︎ 疫痢 Translation: epidemic dysentery ⚫︎ 下痢 Translation: diarrhea

The kanji 痢 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, keisei moji). It combines: ⚫︎ The semantic component (meaning) 疒 (やまいだれ, yamai-dare), which signifies "sickness" or "disease." This element indicates that the character relates to a medical condition. ⚫︎ The phonetic component (sound) 利 (ri), which indicates the pronunciation and also conveys a sense of sharpness or effectiveness, perhaps related to the rapid and forceful nature of the illness. Thus, the character visually and semantically links the concept of illness with the sound and possibly the characteristic of the illness (rapid elimination).