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Chinese Measure Words
The Chinese language uses measure words to count nouns.
Unlike English and most European languages, Chinese does not distinguish between singular and plural, so nouns are simply abstract in number, with context determining whether something is singular or plural.
But when you have to specify a certain number of something, you combine the number itself with a measure word, followed by the noun.
Below is a comprehensive list of Chinese measure words and what they are used to count.
| Hanzi | Pinyin | Use |
| 把 | bă | chair, knife, umbrella, toothbrush; objects with handles |
| 包 | bāo | pack of cigarettes; packets of objects |
| 杯 | bēi | tea, coffee, cup |
| 本 | bĕn | book, magazine |
| 部 | bù | film |
| 串 | chuàn | for items that come in bunches or clusters, e.g.: grapes or bananas |
| 床 | chuáng | blankets |
| 顶 | dĭng | hats |
| 堵 | dǔ | walls |
| 对 | duì | for items that are paired (but not necessarily so) |
| 份 | fèn | newspaper; share; portion; copies |
| 封 | fēng | letter (written document) |
| 副 | fù | sunglasses |
| 个 | gè | general measure word; people |
| 根 | gēn | bananas; other long, slender objects |
| 罐 | guàn | can (of soda or food); jar; tin |
| 户 | hù | homes; households |
| 家 | jiā | companies; buildings; households |
| 架 | jià | bridge; airplane |
| 间 | jiān | room |
| 件 | jiàn | clothes; luggage |
| 届 | jiè | events; used for events like the Olympics, World Cup, and such that occur frequently |
| 斤 | jīn | pound (actually 0.5 kilograms) |
| 句 | jù | phrase; remark |
| 卷 | juăn | reel; spool; toilet paper; camera film |
| 棵 | kē | tree |
| 课 | kè | text; lesson |
| 口 | kŏu | family members; household |
| 块 | kuài | soap; piece of land; Olympic medals; other things that come in hunks, chunks, or lumps; a measure of currency |
| 辆 | liàng | car; bicycle; wheeled vehicles |
| 轮 | lún | round (of talks, sports) |
| 匹 | pĭ | horses; bolt of cloth |
| 瓶 | píng | bottles |
| 起 | qĭ | cases (used for criminal case); batch, group (e.g.: visitors) |
| 群 | qún | crowd; group (of people); flock (of birds, sheep); swarm (bees); herd (animals) |
| 首 | shŏu | poems |
| 双 | shuāng | chopsticks; items that necessarily come in pairs |
| 艘 | sōu | boats; ships |
| 台 | tái | computers; televisions; radios; other machines |
| 套 | tào | set (of furniture, stamps) |
| 条 | tiáo | streets; rivers; fish; snakes; other long, winding objects |
| 头 | tóu | domestic animals; head of cattle; mules; other larger animals |
| 位 | wèi | person (polite usage) |
| 张 | zhāng | map; bed; table; other flat, rectangular objects |
| 只 | zhī | animal; one of a pair of body parts (hands, feet, ears); earrings; rings |
| 枝 | zhī | pencil, cigarette, pen; other long, thin objects |
| 支 | zhī | pencil, cigarette, pen; other long, thin objects |
| 坐 | zuò | mountains; bridges; buildings |