Standard Lemma guide

lychee

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈlaɪ̯t͡ʃi/
  • /laɪ̯ˈt͡ʃiː/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • South-Africa: /ˈlit͡ʃi/
  • US, also: /ˈlit͡ʃi/
  • rhymes with -iːtʃi
  • rhymes with -aɪtʃi

1

noun

Meaning 1

The Chinese tropical fruit tree Litchi chinensis, of the soapberry family.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

That tree's bright red oval fruit with a single stone surrounded by a fleshy white aril.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A soft pink-red colour, like that of a lychee rind (also called lychee red).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

Chinese fruit having a thin brittle shell enclosing a sweet jellylike pulp and a single seed; often dried

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: litchi, litchi nut, litchee, lichi, leechee, lichee

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: edible fruit

History

Etymology

* /ˈlaɪ̯.t͡ʃi/, /laɪ̯ˈt͡ʃiː/ from Cantonese 荔枝 (lai6 zi1) * /ˈlit͡ʃi/ from Hokkien 荔枝 (lē-chi) Doublet of litchi and lichi.

Across languages

Translations

133 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Assamese: লিচু গছ (lisu gos) — tree
  • Assamese: লেচু গছ (lesu gos) — tree
  • Bengali: লিচু গাছ (licu gach) — tree
  • Burmese: နှင်းသီး (hnang:si:) — tree
  • Burmese: လိုက်ချီး (luikhkyi:) — tree
  • Catalan: litxi — tree
  • Chinese Cantonese: 荔枝 (lai6 zi1) — tree
  • Chinese Mandarin: 荔枝 (lìzhī) — tree
  • Danish: litchi — tree
  • Dutch: lycheeboom — tree
  • Dutch: litsjiboom — tree
  • Estonian: litši — tree
  • Finnish: litsi — tree
  • French: letchi — tree
  • French: litchi — tree
  • French: li-tchi — tree
  • German: Litschibaum — tree
  • Hindi: लीची (līcī) — tree
  • Hungarian: licsifa — tree
  • Ido: lichiiero — tree
  • Indonesian: leci — tree
  • Italian: litchi — tree
  • Japanese: 茘枝 (reishi) — tree
  • Japanese: レイシ (reishi) — tree
  • Japanese: ライチ (raichi) — tree
  • Khmer: គូលែន (kuulɛɛn) — tree
  • Khmer: លិនជី (lɨncii) — tree
  • Korean: 리치 (richi) — tree
  • Korean: 라이치 (raichi) — tree
  • Korean: 여지 (yeoji) — tree
  • Korean: 려지 (ryeoji) — tree
  • Lao: ແງວ (ngǣu) — tree
  • Macedonian: личи (liči) — tree
  • Malay: laici — tree
  • Norwegian: litchi — tree
  • Polish: liczi — tree
  • Portuguese: lichia — tree
  • Punjabi: ਲੀਚੀ (līcī) — tree
  • Romanian: litchi — tree
  • Russian: ли́чи (líči) — tree
  • Russian: ли́джи (lídži) — tree
  • Russian: ла́йси (lájsi) — tree
  • Russian: ли́си (lísi) — tree
  • Spanish: lichi — tree
  • Swahili: mshokishoki — tree
  • Swahili: mgulabi — tree
  • Swedish: litchi — tree
  • Thai: ลิ้นจี่ (lín-jìi) — tree
  • Uyghur: لىجى (liji) — tree
  • Vietnamese: cây vải — tree
  • Volapük: licid — tree
  • Zhuang: laehcei — tree
  • Amis: kowawi — fruit
  • Amis: kuwawi — fruit
  • Armenian: լիչի (ličʻi) — fruit
  • Assamese: লিচু (lisu) — fruit
  • Assamese: লেচু (lesu) — fruit
  • Bengali: লিচু (licu) — fruit
  • Bouyei: maslizxil — fruit
  • Bouyei: lizxil — fruit
  • Bouyei: masdianhjungl — fruit
  • Bulgarian: личи (liči) — fruit
  • Burmese: နှင်းသီး (hnang:si:) — fruit
  • Burmese: လိုက်ချီး (luikhkyi:) — fruit
  • Catalan: litxi — fruit
  • Chinese Cantonese: 荔枝 (lai6 zi1) — fruit
  • Chinese: 荔枝 (zh-min-nan) — fruit
  • Chinese Mandarin: 荔枝 (lìzhī) — fruit
  • Czech: liči — fruit
  • Danish: litchi — fruit
  • Danish: kærlighedsfrugt — fruit
  • Dutch: lychee — fruit
  • Dutch: litsji — fruit
  • Estonian: litši — fruit
  • Finnish: litsi — fruit
  • French: litchi — fruit
  • French: letchi — fruit
  • Georgian: ლიᲩი (liČi) — fruit
  • German: Litschi — fruit
  • Greek: λίτσι (lítsi) — fruit
  • Hebrew: לִיצִ׳י (lichi) — fruit
  • Hindi: लीची (līcī) — fruit
  • Hungarian: licsi — fruit
  • Hungarian: licsiszilva — fruit
  • Ido: lichio — fruit
  • Indonesian: leci — fruit
  • Irish: lítsí — fruit
  • Italian: litchi — fruit
  • Japanese: 茘枝 (reishi) — fruit
  • Japanese: レイシ (reishi) — fruit
  • Japanese: ライチ (raichi) — fruit
  • Kanakanabu: ringking tatia — fruit
  • Kannada: ಲಿಚ್ಚಿ (licci) — fruit
  • Kazakh: личи (liçi) — fruit
  • Khmer: គូលែន (kuulɛɛn) — fruit
  • Khmer: លិនជី (lɨncii) — fruit
  • Korean: 리치 (richi) — fruit
  • Korean: 라이치 (raichi) — fruit
  • Korean: 여지 (yeoji) — fruit
  • Korean: 려지 (ryeoji) — fruit
  • Lao: ຫມາກລິ້ນຈີ່ (māk lin chī) — fruit
  • Lithuanian: ličis — fruit
  • Macedonian: личи (liči) — fruit
  • Malay: laici — fruit
  • Manchu: ᠮᠠᠰᡝ ᠮᡠᠶᠠᡵᡳ (mase muyari) — fruit
  • Mongolian: нефелеум (nefeleum) — fruit
  • Norwegian: litchi — fruit
  • Polish: liczi — fruit
  • Portuguese: lichia — fruit
  • Romanian: litchi — fruit
  • Russian: ли́чи (líči) — fruit
  • Russian: ли́джи (lídži) — fruit
  • Russian: ла́йси (lájsi) — fruit
  • Russian: ли́си (lísi) — fruit
  • Serbo-Croatian: liči — fruit
  • Spanish: lichi — fruit
  • Swahili: shokishoki — fruit
  • Swahili: gulabi — fruit
  • Swedish: litchi — fruit
  • Tagalog: alpay — fruit
  • Tagalog: litsiyas — fruit
  • Tamil: விழுதி (viḻuti) — fruit
  • Tamil: விளச்சி (viḷacci) — fruit
  • Tày: mác pái — fruit
  • Tày: mác cại — fruit
  • Tày: mác nghiều — fruit
  • Thai: ลิ้นจี่ (lín-jìi) — fruit
  • Tibetan: འབྲུག་ཚགས ('brug tshags) — fruit
  • Turkish: liçi — fruit
  • Uyghur: لىجى (liji) — fruit
  • Vietnamese: vải — fruit
  • Volapük: licidafluk — fruit
  • Zhuang: laehcei — fruit