JSFiddle - React, Tailwind, and code Playground

HTML

<div>
    <p id="hello">Hello World</p>
    <li class="lick one">also li but not the closest sibling of .clickme</li>
    <li class="lick two">hello i am li</li>
    <a href="#">heello i am a</a>
    <p class="clickme">click</p>
    <li class="lick three">hello i am li after the clickme</li>
</div>

JavaScript

// this one does not only look backwards
$('.clickme').live('click',function(){
    alert('first solution: ' + $(this).siblings('li').attr('class'));
});

// get only the closest previous sibling of .clickme with class .lick
$('.clickme').live('click',function(){
    alert('second solution: ' + $(this).prevAll('li.lick:first').attr('class'));
});