Hokkien counter word explained
Counter word |
Hanji: | 量詞 |
Poj: | Liōng-sû |
Tl: | liōng-sû |
Table of the traditional numerals
See main article: Hokkien numerals. For counter word, the colloquial set of Hokkien numerals system is used with the exception of 1 and 2 when the number is greater than 10; for example, one should say cha̍p-it (十一) and jī-cha̍p-jī (二十二) for 11 and 22 instead of cha̍p-chi̍t (十蜀) and nn̄g-cha̍p-nn̄g (兩十兩) with no actual meaning. For 0, bô (無, means "nothing") is sometimes used, but usually it is needless to count 0.
Numeral | Hokkien |
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Hàn-jī | Pe̍h-ōe-jī |
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Literary system | Vernacular system |
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0 | 零 / 空 | lêng | khòng |
1 | 一 / 蜀 | it / et | chi̍t / che̍t |
2 | 二 / 兩 | jī / lī / gī | nn̄g / nňg / nō͘ |
3 | 三 | sam | saⁿ |
4 | 四 | sù / sìr / sì | sì |
5 | 五 | ngó͘ / gó͘ / gú | gō͘ / gǒ͘ / ňg |
6 | 六 | lio̍k | la̍k |
7 | 七 | chhit | chhit |
8 | 八 | pat | poeh / peh / piē |
9 | 九 | kiú | káu |
10 | 十 | si̍p / se̍p | cha̍p | |
Common counters by category
Pe̍h-ōe-jī | Hàn-jī | Use examples |
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ê | 个 | The Hokkien counter word ê is available for most of countable nouns. |
People and Things |
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bué/bé/bér | 尾 | Fish (hî/hû/hîr) |
châng | 欉 | Tree, plant |
chiah | 隻 | Animals, bicycles (thih-bé), boats (chûn) |
hāng | 項 | Events (tāi-chì), things (mi̍h-kiāⁿ) |
keng | 間 | Rooms (pâng-keng), classrooms (kàu-sek), houses (chhù), schools (ha̍k-hāu), companies (kong-si) |
ki | 枝 | Pen (pit), branch (chhiū-ki), leg (kha), arm (chhiú), strand of hair (thaû-mňg, chhiu), mouth (chhuì) |
lâng | 儂 | People |
lia̍p | 粒 | Fruits, mountains (soaⁿ) |
pún | 本 | Books (chheh), comic books (ang-á-chheh), magazines (cha̍p-chì) |
tâi | 台 | Bicycles (kha-ta̍h-chhia), cars (chhia), machines (ki-khì), mechanical devices, household appliances |
tiâu | 條 | Lines (soàⁿ), songs (koa), railway (thih-lō͘) |
tíng | 頂 | Hat (bō-á), cars (chhia) in some variants |
ūi | 位 | People (polite) |
Time, Calendar, etc. |
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bió | 秒 | Seconds |
goe̍h / ge̍h / ge̍rh / gǒe / gōe / gēr | 月 | Months of the year (see also: kò-goe̍h) |
hun | 分 | Minutes |
hun-cheng | 分鐘 | Minutes |
li̍t / le̍t / ji̍t / gi̍t | 日 | Days |
kang | 工 | Days |
kò-goe̍h / kò-ge̍h | 個月 | Months |
lé-pài | 禮拜 | Weeks |
mê / mî | 暝 | Nights |
nî | 年 | Years |
tang | 冬 | Years |
tiám-cheng | 點鐘 | Hours | |
Extended list of counters
Pe̍h-ōe-jī | Hàn-jī | Use examples |
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au | 甌 | cup[1] |
ba̍k | 目 | section[2] |
goe̍h-ji̍t | 月日 | Months |
hôe | 回 | Events, behaviors, times, frequency, novels paragraphs |
hō͘ | 戶 | Families |
ia̍h | 頁 | Pages |
ke | 家 | Families |
keⁿ / kiⁿ | 更 | 1 keⁿ equals 2 hours |
kiāⁿ | 件 | Baggages (hêng-lí), events (tāi-chì) |
kńg | 卷 | Roll stuffs |
kûn | 群 | Groups, people (lâng) |
khu[3] | 坵 | Paddy fields (chhân) |
pak | 幅 | drawings (tô͘) |
pa̍k | 縛 | Bundles, bunches |
pî | 枇 | Bunchs of banana (keng-chio), mullets (o͘-hî-chí), cluster-like items[4] |
pō͘ | 部 | Departments (pō͘-bûn) of a company or a government |
pōng | 磅 | 1 pōng equals 0.454 kilogram. |
phiⁿ | 篇 | Articles (bûn-chiuⁿ) |
phō | 部 | Books, especially for a "set" of books |
phoa̍h | 袚 | Necklace (phoa̍h-liān), chain items (liān-á) |
se̍k | 席 | Seats in a conference or parliament |
sian | 身 | Deities (sîn-bêng), puppets (ang-á), silkworm (niû-á) |
sián | 仙 | Cent |
sió-sî | 小時 | Hours (written) |
tha̍h | 疊 or 沓 | Stacked-like items |
thia̍p | 疊 | Stacked-like items, bricks (chng-á) |
thong | 通 | Telephone calls (tiān-ōe) | |
See also
Notes and References
- https://twblg.dict.edu.tw/holodict_new/result_detail.jsp?n_no=11811&curpage=1&sample=甌&radiobutton=1&querytarget=1&limit=20&pagenum=1&rowcount=5 Dictionary result
- https://twblg.dict.edu.tw/holodict_new/result_detail.jsp?n_no=1864&curpage=1&sample=目&radiobutton=1&querytarget=1&limit=20&pagenum=6&rowcount=106 Dictionary result
- https://twblg.dict.edu.tw/holodict_new/result_detail.jsp?n_no=3769&curpage=1&sample=坵&radiobutton=1&querytarget=1&limit=20&pagenum=1&rowcount=3 Dictionary result
- Web site: 枇 pî. dictionary.