Chinese Measure Words (Part 1): People, Animals, Plants

Last updated: May 4, 2022
Joe Varadi
Expressions, Learn Chinese, Measure Words

People：

个 (個)	gè	person, thing	一个人 (yī gè rén) “a person” 五个小孩 (wǔ gè xiǎohái) “five children” The character actually contains the symbol for person, but this measure word is used not only for people, but any other thing that doesn’t have a more appropriate measure word (or it does but we cannot remember it). 一个东西 (yī gè dōngxī) “a thing” 举个例子 (jǔ gè lìzi) “give an example” 解决个问题 (jiějué gè wèntí) “resolve a problem”
位	wèi	person	More respectful than 个, and used only for people. 一位女生 (yī wèi nǚshēng) “a woman” 一位男生 (yī wèi nánshēng) “a man” 三位老師 (sān wèi lǎoshī) “three teachers”
名	míng	person, professional	名 means “name”. Typically used when naming a person’s occupation. 一名医生 (yī míng yīshēng) “a doctor” 三名律師 (sān míng lǜshī) “three lawyers” When used as a measure word,名 can always be substituted with 位.
口	kǒu	dependent	口 means “mouth”. As a measure word, it is rarely used in speech. 六口家眷 (liù kǒu jiājuàn) “six dependents”
具	jù	corpse	具 here describes something concrete or stiff. 一具尸体 (yījù shītǐ) “a corpse”
戶	hù	household	十戶人家 (shí hù rénjiā) “ten households”

Animals：

只 (隻)	zhī	animal	一只鸟 (yī zhī niǎo) “a bird” 一只狗 (yī zhǐ gǒu) “a dog” 一只象 (yī zhǐ xiàng) “an elephant”
头 (頭)	tóu	livestock	一头猪 (yī tóu zhū) “a pig” 一头牛 (yī tóu niú) “a cow” 头 means “head”, you can think of it as “a head of cattle”
匹	pǐ	horse	一匹马 (yī pǐ mǎ) “a horse”
条 (條)	tiáo	fish, snakes	一条鱼 (yītiáo yú) “a fish” 一条蛇 (yī tiáo shé) “a snake” In contrast to the above measure words, 条 refers to the shape of the animal. We will see条in the Size & Shape category.

Plants：

棵	kē	tree	一棵树 (yī kē shù) “a tree” The character’s left side is the symbol for “wood”
株	zhū	plant, flower still in the ground	一株花 (yī zhū huā) “a flower”
朵	duǒ	flower bulb or stem	一朵玫瑰 (yī duǒ méiguī) “a stem of rose”

棵

kē

tree

一棵树 (yī kē shù) “a tree”

The character’s left side is the symbol for “wood”

株

zhū

plant, flower still in the ground

一株花 (yī zhū huā) “a flower”

朵

duǒ

flower bulb or stem

一朵玫瑰 (yī duǒ méiguī) “a stem of rose”

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Joe Varadi

Joe Varadi lived and studied in Shanghai and Taiwan, in a simpler time before blogs and smartphones got big. He is the creator of Trasee! for Chinese Trasee, a mobile app for Chinese reading and handwriting that incorporates many of the techniques he developed while learning Mandarin.