Chinese word

棵

Pronunciation

Pinyinkē

Meaning

  • measure wordclassifier for plants

Example

我买了一棵小树。wǒ mǎi le yì kē xiǎo shù

I bought one small tree.

Illustration for 棵 (classifier for plants)

More examples

公园里有好几棵大树。gōng yuán lǐ yǒu háo jǐ kē dà shù

There are several large trees in the park.

Core concept

Presents a plant as one whole, countable living unit rather than as an unnamed mass.

Common phrases

  • 一棵小树yì kē xiǎo shù

    one small tree

  • 好几棵树háo jǐ kē shù

    several trees

  • 两棵树liǎng kē shù

    two trees

Similar words

个gè: A widely used measure word for counting various objects and sometimes plants in everyday speech.
朵duǒ: Used to count separate clusters of flowers, clouds, and similar forms.
根gēn: Used to count slender, rod-shaped things as well as roots and stems.

Definition in Chinese

用于计数单棵的植物或树木，强调个体完整性，常与数词或形容词连用。yòng yú jì shù dān kē de zhí wù huò shù mù qiáng diào gè tǐ wán zhěng xìng cháng yǔ shù cí huò xíng róng cí lián yòng

Word origin

The character 棵 (kē, "classifier for plants") combines 木 (mù, "tree"), which points to the plant-related meaning, with 果 (guǒ, "fruit"), which supplies the sound.

Usage tips

  • The noun can be omitted when the context already identifies the plant, but naming it after the classifier makes the type clear in everyday speech.

Word lists with this word