Master Chinese Measure Words

Learn 量词 (liàngcí) — the classifiers that make your Chinese sound natural.

82 essential classifiers · Interactive quizzes · Visual memory tips

📚 Covering all HSK 1-6 measure words + high-frequency vocabulary

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Learning path

Not sure where to start?

Follow this four-step path — from understanding what measure words are, to using them confidently in real sentences.

Understand

理解

What measure words are and why Chinese needs them.

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Learn

系统学

Master the 82 core classifiers by HSK level, one at a time.

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Compare

辨析

Tell near-synonyms apart: 个 vs 只, 匹 vs 头, 张 vs 片.

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Practice

运用

Test yourself with fill-in-the-blank and quick quizzes.

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82 words

个

👤

gè

The universal classifier. Used for people and most general objects when no specific measure word applies.

Polite/formal classifier for people, used to show respect to guests, teachers, elders.

Formal classifier for people in a specific role or profession, often used in written Chinese.

Classifier for members of a group or organization, such as team members or crew.

Classifier for batches or groups of people (or goods) arriving or being processed together.

Classifier for groups of people, often with a casual or sometimes negative connotation.

Classifier for small animals, birds, and one of a pair. Also used for some objects.

Classifier for long, thin things — fish, snakes, roads, and some abstract items like news.

Classifier for large animals, especially livestock like cattle, pigs, and elephants.

Classifier for horses, mules, and sometimes cloth/wolf.

Classifier for litters or nests of animals born together.

Classifier for books, notebooks, magazines, and other bound publications.

Classifier for flat, thin objects: paper, tickets, tables, photos, faces.

Classifier for essays, articles, writings, and compositions.

Classifier for letters, emails, and sealed documents.

Classifier for cup-shaped containers and beverages.

Classifier for bowls of food, especially noodles, rice, and soup.

Classifier for plates of food.

Classifier for pieces, chunks, or slices of solid things. Also used for money (kuài = yuan).

Classifier for bottled items and liquids in bottles.

Classifier for rooms and spaces.

Classifier for large structures: buildings, mountains, bridges, statues.

Classifier for layers, floors, or stories in a building.

Classifier for buildings, especially residential houses or apartment blocks.

Classifier for wheeled vehicles: cars, bikes, buses.

Classifier for boats and ships.

Classifier for aircraft, machines with frames, and large musical instruments.

Classifier for trains and trains of data/events.

Classifier for pieces of clothing, luggage, and abstract matters/cases.

Classifier for pairs of things: shoes, socks, chopsticks, hands.

Classifier for things worn on the head: hats, caps.

Classifier for sets of things: suit, furniture, system, method.

Classifier for things with a handle: chairs, umbrellas, keys, knives, fans.

Classifier for long, stick-like objects: pens, songs, troops.

Classifier for long, thin, rigid objects: sticks, ropes, noodles, hair.

Classifier for machines and equipment: computers, TVs, cars, stages.

Classifier for plants (trees, flowers, grass) — those with roots.

Classifier for flowers, clouds, and anything with a blossom-like shape.

Classifier for flat, thin pieces: leaves, slices, land areas.

Classifier for drops of liquid.

Classifier for occurrences, times, or frequency of actions.

Classifier for events, activities, sessions, and natural phenomena of some duration.

Classifier for turns, sorts, or kinds of effort/experience. Literary tone.

Classifier for bursts, gusts, or waves of something that comes and goes.

Classifier for movies, books, phone models, and machines.

Classifier for items in a list: tasks, rules, policies, research.

Classifier for sections, segments, lessons, and batteries.

Classifier for segments, passages, or periods of time/experience.

Classifier for paintings, pictures, maps, and curtains.

Classifier for sentences, lines of poetry, or spoken utterances.

Classifier for actions done from beginning to end (complete iterations).

Classifier for round trips or journeys to and from a place.

Classifier meaning 'a dozen' (12 items). From English 'dozen'.

Classifier for bagged items and contents of a bag.

Classifier for institutions, schools, hospitals, and buildings (formal).

Classifier for plants (more formal/literary than 棵). Also used in biology.

Classifier for things bound together — bundles, bunches, rays (of light).

Classifier for things strung together on a string, skewer, or thread.

Classifier for groups/flocks of people or animals.

Indefinite classifier meaning 'some' or 'a few' — indicates a small, unspecified quantity.

Classifier for songs, poems, and musical compositions (as whole works).

Classifier for news items, notices, advertisements, and short entries.

Classifier for phone calls, formal documents, and lengthy communications.

Classifier for rolled-up objects — scrolls, tape, paper, fabric.

Classifier for spoonfuls of substances.

Classifier for lamps, lights, and drinking vessels (literary/poetic).

Classifier for doses of medicine (especially traditional Chinese medicine preparations).

Classifier for family members (counting people in a household) and things spoken.

Classifier for households or families as administrative units.

Classifier for doors and windows (things that open like a fan).

Classifier for wrapped items, packages, bags of small goods.

Classifier for boxed items — boxes, cartons, containers with lids.

Classifier for bucket/barrel-sized containers and their contents.

Classifier for beddings — quilts, blankets, sheets.

Classifier for lump-shaped masses — dough, tangled things, clusters.

Classifier for couples, paired items, and matched sets.

Classifier for stacked/layered flat objects.

Classifier for pot/flask-sized containers and their contents.

Classifier for books and bound volumes (especially multi-volume sets).

Classifier for small, round, solid objects (candy, stars, beads, pills, hearts).

Classifier for tiny grains (rice, seeds, sand, pills).

Classifier for rounds, times, or occasions (performances, games, meals).

IntermediateHSK 3

Find the measure word for any noun

Not sure which classifier to use? Pick a noun to see your options:

person book car water dog cat cup letter friend paper medicine building idea apple question

Browse all 351 nouns →

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