Chinese word

位

Pronunciation

Pinyinwèi

Meaning

  • measure wordperson

Example

我们班有二十位学生。wǒ men bān yǒu èr shí wèi xué shēng

There are twenty students in our class.

Illustration for 位 (person)

More examples

教室里有一位老师在等学生。jiào shì lǐ yǒu yí wèi lǎo shī zài děng xué shēng

There is one teacher in the classroom waiting for students.

Core concept

A place that marks where a person or number stands in an order, including rank and polite counting of people.

Common phrases

  • 一位老师yí wèi lǎo shī

    one teacher

  • 两位学生liǎng wèi xué shēng

    two students

  • 几位客人jǐ wèi kè rén

    several guests

Similar words

个gè: A common measure word used for people and things.
名míng: A formal measure word used for people with a profession or role.
口kǒu: A measure word often used to count the people in a family or household.

Definition in Chinese

用作量词，表示人，用于礼貌或正式场合；也可指人的身份、职务或所处的位置。yòng zuò liàng cí biǎo shì rén yòng yú lǐ mào huò zhèng shì chǎng hé yě kě zhǐ rén de shēn fèn zhí wù huò suǒ chù de wèi zhì

Word origin

The character 位 (wèi, "position") joins 亻 (rén, "person") with 立 (lì, "stand") as a sound component, and its core sense of position accounts for rank, digit value, and polite counting of people.

Usage tips

  • Service workers may use this polite choice when asking about a party's size, while friends speaking casually often choose 个 (gè, "general measure word") instead.

Other meanings

  • ranknoun
  • place valuenoun

Related words

Word lists with this word