diff --git a/packages/rich-text/src/get-start-nesting-level.js b/packages/rich-text/src/get-start-list-format.js
similarity index 64%
rename from packages/rich-text/src/get-start-nesting-level.js
rename to packages/rich-text/src/get-start-list-format.js
index 5cba5f5cee451c..17f7402126cbbb 100644
--- a/packages/rich-text/src/get-start-nesting-level.js
+++ b/packages/rich-text/src/get-start-list-format.js
@@ -9,11 +9,12 @@ import { getLineIndex } from './get-line-index';
  *
  * @param {Object} value     The rich-text value
  *
- * @return {number} The nesting level, starting from 0.
+ * @return {Object} Object with { nestingLevel, listFormat }.
  */
-export function getStartNestingLevel( value ) {
+export function getStartListFormat( value ) {
 	const { text, replacements, start, end } = value;
 	const startingLineIndex = getLineIndex( value, start );
 	const startLineFormats = replacements[ startingLineIndex ] || [];
-	return startLineFormats.length;
+	const listFormat = startLineFormats.slice( -1 );
+	return { nestingLevel: startLineFormats.length, listFormat };
 }