Chinese measure words

In the Chinese languages, measure words or classifiers (Traditional Chinese: 量詞; Simplified Chinese: 量词; pinyin: liàngcí; Cantonese (Yale): leung4 chi4) are used along with numerals to define the quantity of a given object or objects, or with "this"/"that" to identify specific objects.

In Chinese, simple numerals cannot quantify a noun by itself; instead, the language relies on what are known as measure words or, to a lesser extent, classifiers. There are two types of such classifiers, nominal and verbal, with the latter being used in quantifying verbs and the amount of time which they take precedence. English also has its share of classifiers, however, these are generally understood to be extraneous and ultimately construe the object in question to greater detail. As an example, in the English phrase "a stretch of sand", the word "stretch" is needed to disambiguate whether the sand is actually one grain or an entire beach's worth. Therefore, "stretch" serves to further specify the quantity of sand. We can also speak of "a bucketful of sand", "a grain of sand" or "a ton of sand". Another example is the word "slice" as in "a slice of bread". "Glass" as in "a glass of water" is another example. Contrast these phrases with "a sand", "a bread", and "a water".

It should be noted that the usage of measure words in Chinese is strictly mandatory, that is, they must be used so long as a quantifying numeral or a pronoun is present (a definite article like English "the" does not exist as such in Chinese). In contrast with the English language wherein "a flock of birds" is roughly equivalent to "some birds", in Chinese only "一群鳥" (一群鸟) is possible. Likewise, "a bird" should be translated into "一隻鳥" (一只鸟); it is as though we were forced to say "a specimen of a bird".

Usage also depends on personal preference and dialects. For example, some people use 三部車; (三部车) and others use 三台車 (三台车) to mean three cars. Still others use 三輛車 (三辆车) or in Cantonese 三架車 (三架车), with all of these measure words serving the same purpose.

Some measure words are true units, which all languages must have in order to measure things, e.g. kilometres. These are displayed first, then other nominal classifiers, and finally verbal classifiers.

The first column contains the traditional version of the classifier's character, the second contains the simplified version where it differs, the third contains the pronunciation given in Hanyu Pinyin, the fourth contains the pronunciation given in Cantonese romanization (Yale), and the fifth explains the word's principal uses. Quotation marks surround the literal meaning of the measure word.

Chinese measure words

Trad.	Simp.	Pinyin	Cantonese	Main uses
Time
秒		miǎo	miu5	"second"
分		fēn	fan1	"minute"
刻		kè	hak1 haak1	"quarter","15 minutes" (mainly in some dialects, such as Shanghainese, and translations)
小時	小时	xiǎoshí	siu2 si4	"hour"
鐘	钟	zhōng	jung1	"hour" (found in southern Chinese)
時辰	时辰	shíchén	si4 san4	"2 hours" (ancient)
天		tiān	tin1	"day"
日		rì	yat6	"day"
年		nián	nin4	"year"
載	载	zǎi	joi2 joi3	"year"
世紀	世纪	shìjì	sai3 gei2	"century"
Weight/mass
克		kè	hak1 haak1	"gram"
兩	两	liǎng		50 grams
斤		jīn	gan1	"catty", "pound", 1/2 kilograms
公斤		gōngjīn	gung1 gan1	"kilogram"
千克		qiānkè	chin1 hak1/haak1	"kilogram"
噸	吨	dūn	deun1	"ton"
Length/distance
公分		gōngfēn	gung1 fan1	"centimetre" (less common)
厘米		límǐ	lei4 mai5	"centimetre"
寸		cùn	chyun3	Chinese "inch"
吋		cùn	chyun3	British inch
尺		chǐ	che2/chek3	Chinese "foot"
呎		chǐ	chek3	British foot
英尺		yīngchǐ	ying1 chek3	British foot
公尺		gōngchǐ	gung1 chek3	"metre"
米		mǐ	mai5	"metre"
里		lǐ	lei5	"lǐ", about 1/3 mile
哩		lǐ	le1/lei5/li1	British mile
英里		yīnglǐ	ying1 lei5	British mile
公里		gōnglǐ	gung1 lei5	"kilometre"
天文單位	天文单位	tiānwéndānwèi	tin1 man4 daan1 wai2	"astronomical unit"
光年		guāngnián	gwong1 nin4	"light year"
秒差距		miǎochājù	miu5 cha1 geui6	"parsec"
Money
圓	元	yuán	yun4	"yuán", "¥" (main unit of currency) (either form can be used in Traditional Chinese text)
塊	块	kuài	faai3	"yuán", "¥" (a slang term, like "quid" or "buck")
角	交	jiāo	gok3/luk6	"jiāo", "dime", "tenpence" (either form can be used in Simplified Chinese text)
毫	毛	máo	hou4	"jiāo", "dime", "tenpence" (slang) (either form can be used in Traditional Chinese text)
分		fēn	fan1/fan6	"fēn", "cent", "penny"