利 lì sharp; favorable; advantage
Made up of [刂 dāo knife (radical) radical 18, 禾 hé grain radical 115]Made with 7 strokes.
Combining 'knife' and 'grain' implies harvest and a good harvest is a great benefit to all. The sickle also needs to be sharp to harvest well.
Ancient small seal form 
Related characters
Also uses 刂 dāo component: 别 bié (to leave) 厕 cè (toilet) 超 chāo (to exceed) 到 dào (arrive) 刚 gāng (hard) 剧 jù (drama) 刊 kān (to print) 梨 lí (pear) 前 qián (front) 狮 shī (lion) 则 zé (conjunction used to express contrast with a previous sentence or clause)
Also uses 禾 hé component: 矮 ǎi (low) 乘 chéng (to ride) 稿 gǎo (manuscript) 和 hé (together) 季 jì (season) 秋 qiú (autumn) 税 shuì (taxes) 香 xiāng (fragrant) 租 zū (to hire)
Sounds same
力 lì (strength) 立 lì (stand) 厉 lì (strict) 丽 lì (beautiful) 历 lì (to experience)Different tone
离 lí (Fire) 离 lí 梨 lí (pear) 里 lǐ (inside) 礼 lǐ (ceremony) 理 lǐ (texture) 李 lǐ (plum)Pronunciation
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People
利玛窦 Matteo Ricci SJ利玛窦 Matteo Ricci
Proverbs
利欲熏心 lì yù xūn xīn To be obsessed with the desire for success at the expense of happiness心旷神怡,事事顺利 xīn kuàng shén yí, shì shì shùn lì Feeling happy and relaxed
因势利导 yīn shì lì dǎo To encourage something along to its natural fulfillment.
鹬蚌相争,渔翁得利 yù bàng xiāng zhēng yú wēng dé lì The sandpiper (or snipe) is too busy fighting a clam to notice the wily fishermen who snares them both. Taking advantage of situation when other people are too distracted with their own business.