Chinese word

口

Pronunciation

Pinyinkǒu

Meaning

  • measure wordmouthful

Example

他喝了一口水。tā hē le yì kǒu shuǐ

He drank a mouthful of water.

Illustration for 口 (mouthful)

More examples

他吃了一口苹果后笑了。tā chī le yì kǒu píng guǒ hòu xiào le

After taking a bite of an apple, he smiled.

Core concept

A mouth is an opening that takes in one small portion, and a household can be counted by the mouths it feeds.

Common phrases

  • 喝一口茶hē yì kǒu chá

    drink a mouthful of tea

  • 吃一口苹果chī yì kǒu píng guǒ

    take a bite of an apple

Similar words

个gè: A general measure word for counting people or things one at a time.
杯bēi: A measure for a cupful of drink served in a cup or glass.
碗wǎn: A measure for a bowlful of food or soup.
瓶píng: A measure for a bottleful of liquid.

Definition in Chinese

用来表示一次用口取得或吃下的那一小份量，可与喝、吃、咬等动词搭配；另外也用来计家庭成员的人数，成为表示家中人口的计数词。yòng lái biǎo shì yí cì yòng kǒu qǔ dé huò chī xià de nà yì xiǎo fèn liàng kě yǔ hē chī yǎo děng dòng cí dā pèi lìng wài yě yòng lái jì jiā tíng chéng yuán de rén shù chéng wéi biǎo shì jiā zhōng rén kǒu de jì shù cí

Word origin

口 (kǒu, "mouth") began as a picture of an open mouth; its uses for a mouthful and a household member grow from the mouth as the part that takes in food and represents a person.

Usage tips

  • In family descriptions, the household word normally comes before this measure word, so the number is understood as a count of people in that home.

Other meanings

  • mouthnoun
  • personnoun

Word lists with this word