Extended List of Counters
This list also includes some counters and usages that are rarely used or not widely known; other words can also be used as counters more sporadically.
| Pronunciation | Japanese | Use |
|---|---|---|
| ば ba | 場 | Scene of a play |
| ばい bai | 倍 | Multiples, -fold as in "twofold" |
| ばん ban | 晩 | Nights (see also: ya) |
| ばん ban | 番 | Position, turn, sports matches |
| び bi | 尾 | Small fish and shrimps (used in the fish trade; most people say hiki instead) |
| ぶ bu | 部 | Copies of a magazine or newspaper, or other packets of papers |
| ぶん bun | 文 | Sentences |
| びょう byō | 秒 | Seconds |
| びょうし byōshi | 拍子 | Musical beats |
| ちゃく chaku | 着 | Suits of clothing (see also: mai) |
| ちょう chō | 挺 | Guns, sticks of ink, palanquins, rickshaws, violins |
| ちょう chō | 丁 | Tools, scissors, saws, trousers, pistols, cakes of tofu, town blocks, servings at a restaurant |
| ちょう chō | 町 | Town blocks |
| だい dai | 代 | Generations, historical periods, reigns |
| だい dai | 台 | Cars, bicycles, machines, mechanical devices, household appliances |
| だん dan | 段 | levels, ranks, steps (of stairs). |
| だんらく danraku | 段落 | Paragraphs |
| ど do, also たび tabi | 度 | Occurrences, number of times, degrees of temperature or angle (see also: kai). |
| ふで fude | 筆 | Sequences of letters or drawings that you write or draw without removing your pen off the paper. Not to be confused with "hitsu" (筆) below. |
| ふく fuku, ぷく puku | 服 | Bowls of matcha (powdered green tea); packets or doses of powdered medicine; puffs (of, e.g., a cigarette); rests or breaks |
| ふく fuku, ぷく puku | 幅 | Hanging scrolls (kakejiku) |
| ふん fun, ぷん pun | 分 | Minutes |
| ふり furi | 振 | Swords |
| がっきゅう gakkyū | 学級 | Classes (in pre-university education) |
| がつ gatsu, also つき tsuki | 月 | Months of the year. Month-long periods when read tsuki (see also: kagetsu) |
| ご go | 語 | Words |
| ごん gon, also こと koto | 言 | Words |
| ぐ gu | 具 | Suits of armour, sets of furniture |
| ぎょう gyō | 行 | Lines of text |
| はく haku | 泊 | Nights of a stay |
| はい hai, ぱい pai, ばい bai | 杯 | Cups and glasses of drink, spoonfuls, cuttlefish, octopuses, crabs, squid, abalone, boats (slang) |
| はい hai | 敗 | Losses (sports bouts) |
| はこ hako | 箱 | Boxes |
| はり hari | 張 | Umbrellas, parasols, tents |
| はしら hashira | 柱 | Gods, memorial tablets |
| はつ hatsu, ぱつ patsu | 発 | Gunshots, bullets, aerial fireworks; orgasms, sex acts |
| ひき hiki, ぴき piki | 匹 | Small animals, insects, fish, reptiles, amphibians, oni (ogres) |
| ひん hin, ぴん pin | 品 | Parts of a meal, courses (see also: shina) |
| ひつ hitsu, ぴつ pitsu | 筆 | Pieces of land |
| ほ ho, ぽ po | 歩 | Number of (foot)steps |
| ほん hon, ぽん pon, ぼん bon | 本 | Long, thin objects: rivers, roads, train tracks, ties, pencils, bottles, guitars; also, metaphorically, telephone calls (see also: tsūwa), train or bus routes, movies, home runs, points or bounds in sports events. Although 本 also means "book", the counter for books is satsu. |
| ひょう hyō, ぴょう pyō | 票 | Votes |
| じ ji | 字 | Letters, kanji, kana |
| じ ji | 児 | Children. As in "father of two (children)", etc. |
| じ ji | 時 | Hours of the day |
| じかん jikan | 時間 | Hour-long periods |
| じょう jō | 畳 | Tatami mats. The kanji 畳 is also read tatami and is the same one used for the mats. The room size of a washitsu in Japan is given as a number of mats, for example 4½ yo jō han |
| じょう jō | 錠 | Pills/capsules |
| じょう jō | 条 | Articles of law, thin objects, rays or streams of light, streaks of smoke or lightning |
| か ka | 日 | Day of the month |
| か ka | 架 | Frames |
| かぶ ka | 課 | Lessons |
| かぶ kabu | 株 | Stocks; nursery trees |
| かげつ kagetsu | ヶ月, 箇月 | Month-long periods (see also: gatsu). 箇 is normally abbreviated using a small katakana ヶ in modern Japanese. Alternatively 個, hiragana か, small katakana ヵ and full-size katakana カ & ケ can also be seen, although only か is similarly frequent. |
| かい kai | 回 | Occurrences, number of times (see also: do) |
| かい kai, がい gai | 階 | Number of floors, stories |
| かこく kakoku | ヶ国, 箇国 | Countries |
| かこくご kakokugo | ヶ国語, 箇国語 | (National) languages |
| かく kaku | 画 | Strokes in kanji |
| かん kan | 貫 | Pieces of nigiri-zushi |
| かん kan | 艦 | Warships |
| けいとう keitou | 系統 | Bus routes |
| けん ken | 件 | Abstract matters and cases |
| けん ken, げん gen | 軒 | Houses |
| き ki | 機 | Aircraft, machines |
| き ki | 基 | Graves, wreaths, CPUs, reactors, elevators, dams |
| きれ kire | 切れ | Slices (of bread, cake, sashimi etc.) |
| こ ko | 個, 箇, 个, or ヶ | General measure word, used when there is no specific counter. 個 is also used for military units. |
| こ ko | 戸 | Houses (戸 means "door") |
| こう kō | 校 | Schools |
| こう kō | 稿 | Drafts of a manuscript |
| こう kō | 行 | Banks |
| こま koma | 齣, コマ | Frames, panels. 齣 is virtually unused nowadays. |
| こん kon | 献 | shots (of drink) |
| く ku | 区 | Sections, city districts |
| く ku | 句 | Haiku, senryū |
| くち kuchi | 口 | (Bank) accounts, donations (口 means "opening" or "entrance") |
| くみ kumi | 組 | Groups, a pair of people (twins, a husband and a wife, dancers, etc.) |
| くらす kurasu | クラス | School classes |
| きゃく kyaku | 脚 | Desks, chairs, long-stemmed glasses |
| きゃく kyaku | 客 | Pairs of cup and saucer |
| きょく kyoku | 曲 | Pieces of music |
| きょく kyoku | 局 | Board game matches (chess, igo, shogi, mahjong); radio stations, television stations |
| まい mai | 枚 | Thin, flat objects, sheets of paper, photographs, plates, articles of clothing (see also: chaku) |
| まき maki or かん kan | 巻 | Rolls, scrolls, kan for volumes of book |
| まく maku | 幕 | Theatrical acts |
| めい mei | 名 | People (polite) (名 means "name") |
| めん men | 面 | Mirrors, boards for board games (chess, igo, shogi), stages of computer games, walls of a room, tennis courts, |
| もん mon | 門 | Cannons |
| もん mon | 問 | Questions |
| ねん nen | 年 | Years, school years (grades); not years of age |
| にち nichi | 日 | Days of the month (but see table of exceptions below) |
| にん nin | 人 | People (but see table of exceptions below) |
| にんまえ ninmae | 人前 | Food portions (without exceptions, unlike nin above) |
| おり ori | 折 | Boxes made of folded paper (compare to hako above, which refers to boxes in general) |
| ぺーじ pēji | ページ, 頁 | Pages |
| れい rei | 例 | Cases, Examples |
| れい rei | 礼 | Bows during worship at a shrine |
| り ri | り or 人 | People, used in the words 一人 (ひとり) and 二人 (ふたり). |
| りん rin | 輪 | Wheels, Flowers |
| りょう ryō | 両 | Railway cars |
| さい sai | 才 or 歳 | Years of age |
| さお sao | 棹 | Chests of drawers, flags |
| さつ satsu | 冊 | Books |
| せき seki | 席 | Seats, Rakugo shows, (drinking) parties |
| せき seki | 隻 | Ships, half of a pair (e.g., half of a folding screen), item carried in a bundle (fish, birds, arrows etc.) |
| しな shina | 品 | Parts of a meal, courses (see also: hin) |
| しゃ sha | 社 | used for businesses, i.e. 会社 |
| しき shiki | 式 | Sets of things, such as documents or furniture |
| しょう shō | 勝 | Wins (sports bouts) |
| しゅ shu | 首 | Tanka |
| しゅう shū | 週 | Weeks |
| しゅるい shurui or しゅ shu | 種類 or 種 | Kinds, species |
| そく soku | 足 | Pairs of footwear, pairs of socks, stockings, tabi |
| たば taba | 束 | bundles (of banknotes), bunches (of flowers, vegetables), sheaves |
| たい tai | 体 | Images, statues, person's remains, dolls |
| たわら tawara | 俵 | Bags of rice |
| てき teki | 滴 | Drops of liquid |
| てん ten | 点 | Points, dots, pieces of a set |
| とう tō | 頭 | Large animals, cattle, elephants, whales, dolphins, butterflies (頭 means "head") |
| とき toki | 時 | Time periods, a sixth of either day or night (in the traditional, obsolete way of telling time). See also: jikan |
| とり tōri | 通り | Combinations, puzzle solutions |
| つ tsu | つ | Used as part of the indigenous Japanese numbers 一つ, 二つ, 三つ etc. |
| つう tsū | 通 | Letters |
| つぼ tsubo | 坪 | Commonly used unit of area equal to 3.3 square metres. |
| つうわ tsūwa | 通話 | Telephone calls (see also: hon) |
| わ wa, ば ba, ぱ pa | 羽 | Birds, rabbits* (see note); 羽 means "feather" or "wing." |
| わ wa | 把 | Bundles |
| わ wa | 話 | Stories, episodes of TV series, etc. |
| や ya | 夜 | Nights (see also: ban) |
| ぜん zen | 膳 | Pairs of chopsticks; bowls of rice |
*Japanese Buddhist monks were not allowed to eat any meat other than birds, but liked rabbit meat so much they came up with the contrived "explanation" that rabbits are actually birds, and that their ears are unusable wings. The rationale was that while moving, rabbits only touched the ground with two feet at a time. Nowadays, wa is the usual counter for rabbits.
Read more about this topic: Japanese Counter Word
Famous quotes containing the words extended and/or list:
“I have been accustomed to make excursions to the ponds within ten miles of Concord, but latterly I have extended my excursions to the seashore.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Shea—they call him Scholar Jack—
Went down the list of the dead.
Officers, seamen, gunners, marines,
The crews of the gig and yawl,
The bearded man and the lad in his teens,
Carpenters, coal-passers—all.”
—Joseph I. C. Clarke (1846–1925)