個

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個 U+500B, 個
CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-500B
← 倊
[U+500A]		 CJK Unified Ideographs 倌 →
[U+500C]
See also: 个

Translingual[edit]

Stroke order
個-order.gif

Han character[edit]

個 (radical 9 人+8, 10 strokes, cangjie input 人田十口 (OWJR), four-corner 26200, composition ⿰亻固)

Derived characters[edit]

References[edit]

  • KangXi: page 107, character 17
  • Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 758
  • Dae Jaweon: page 228, character 2
  • Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 1, page 178, character 3
  • Unihan data for U+500B

Chinese[edit]

trad. 個/箇
simp. 个

Glyph origin[edit]

Characters in the same phonetic series (古) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 
Old Chinese
箇 *kaːls
個 *kaːls
居 *kɯ, *kas
橭 *kaː, *kʰaː
嫴 *kaː
姑 *kaː
辜 *kaː
酤 *kaː, *kaːs, *ɡaːʔ
蛄 *kaː
鴣 *kaː
沽 *kaː, *kaːʔ, *kaːs
盬 *kaː, *kaːʔ
古 *kaːʔ
罟 *kaːʔ
估 *kaːʔ
鈷 *kaːʔ
詁 *kaːʔ
牯 *kaːʔ
故 *kaːs
固 *kaːs
稒 *kaːɡs
痼 *kaːɡs
錮 *kaːɡs
鯝 *kaːɡs
棝 *kaːɡs
凅 *kaːɡs
枯 *kʰaː
軲 *kʰaː
跍 *kʰaː
骷 *kʰaː
苦 *kʰaːʔ, *kʰaːs
葫 *qʰaː, *ɡaː
餬 *ɡaː
瑚 *ɡaː
湖 *ɡaː
鶘 *ɡaː
猢 *ɡaː
醐 *ɡaː
糊 *ɡaː
箶 *ɡaː
蝴 *ɡaː
胡 *ɡaː
瓳 *ɡaː
怙 *ɡaːʔ
祜 *ɡaːʔ
岵 *ɡaːʔ
婟 *ɡaːʔ, *ɡaːɡs
楛 *ɡaːʔ
据 *ka
裾 *ka
琚 *ka
椐 *ka, *kas, *kʰa
鶋 *ka
蜛 *ka
崌 *ka
涺 *ka
腒 *ka, *ɡa
鋸 *kas
倨 *kas
踞 *kas
涸 *ɡaːɡ

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *kaːls): semantic 亻 (“person”) + phonetic 固 (OC *kaːs).

Etymology[edit]

The semantics may have developed along the grammaticalisation process "bamboo stalk" (箇) > "piece, item" > "classifier for every category of noun" > "possessive particle, generic particle". If so, it would then possibly be cognate with 竿 (OC *kaːn, “bamboo, rod”). Compare Tibetan མཁར་བ (mkhar ba), འཁར་བ ('khar ba, “walking stick, staff”) and Thai ก้าน (gâan, “stem, stalk”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Note:
  • gó̤ - literary;
  • gá - classifier.
Note:
  • kò - literary (including classifier for months);
  • ê/gê - generic classifier (the simplified form 个 is used in Taiwan);
  • ê - possessive particle (the simplified form 个 is used in Taiwan).
Note:
  • go6 - literary;
  • gai5 - classifier;
  • gai7 - possessive particle.
Note:
  • 5geq ~ 5hheq ~ 4eq - as classifier or particle;
  • 2ku - literary.
Rime
Character 個
Reading # 1/1
Initial (聲) 見 (28)
Final (韻) 歌 (94)
Tone (調) Departing (H)
Openness (開合) Open
Division (等) I
Fanqie 古賀切
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang
Shangfang		 /kɑH/
Pan
Wuyun		 /kɑH/
Shao
Rongfen		 /kɑH/
Edwin
Pulleyblank		 /kaH/
Li
Rong		 /kɑH/
Wang
Li		 /kɑH/
Bernard
Karlgren		 /kɑH/
Expected
Mandarin
Reflex		 gè
Baxter-Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character 個
Reading # 1/1
Modern
Beijing
(Pinyin)		 gè
Middle
Chinese		 ‹ kaH ›
Old
Chinese		 /*kˤa[r]-s/
English piece, item

Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter-Sagart system:

* Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence;
* Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p;
* Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix;
* Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary;

* Period "." indicates syllable boundary.
Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character 個
Reading # 1/1
No. 4208
Phonetic
component		 古
Rime
group		 歌
Rime
subdivision		 1
Corresponding
MC rime		 箇
Old
Chinese		 /*kaːls/
Notes 見儀禮鄭注

Definitions[edit]

個

  1. piece; item; individual
    個人 / 个人  ―  gèrén  ―  an individual; personal
    個體 / 个体  ―  gètǐ  ―  individuality
  2. size; height
    個子 / 个子  ―  gèzi  ―  height; stature
    個兒 / 个儿  ―  gèr  ―  size
  3. separate; respective; separately; individually
    個別 / 个别  ―  gèbié  ―  individual; separate; some; a couple of
  4. single; alone
  5. (dialectal) one
  6. The generic classifier for people or for things lacking specific classifiers.
    一個人 / 一个人  ―  yī ge rén  ―  one person
    • 每個人 / 每个人  ―  měi ge rén  ―  every person; everyone
    我有一個問題。 / 我有一个问题。  ―  Wǒ yǒu yī ge wèntí.  ―  I have a question.
    兩個人 / 两个人 [Taiwanese]  ―  nn̄g ê lâng [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  two people
  7. Classifier for hours and months.
    一個鐘頭 / 一个钟头  ―  yī ge zhōngtóu  ―  one hour
    九個月 / 九个月  ―  jiǔ ge yuè  ―  nine months
    三個月 / 三个月 [Taiwanese]  ―  saⁿ kò goe̍h [Pe̍h-ōe-jī]  ―  two months
  8. Alternative classifier, for nouns having specific classifiers. Often colloquial and regional. Usage varies greatly between different topolects.
    一個學校 / 一个学校  ―  yī ge xuéxiào  ―  one school
  9. (Cantonese) Classifier for yuan, dollars, etc., used when followed by cents.
    三個九毫九 / 三个九毫九 [Cantonese]  ―  saam1 go3 gau2 hou4 gau2 [Jyutping]  ―  three dollars and ninety-nine cents
  10. (Mandarin, colloquial) Particle, placed between a verb and numbers, showing that the following numbers are approximate, not accurate.
  11. (Mandarin, Cantonese, colloquial) Particle, placed between a verb and its object or complement, adding a sense of ease, swiftness and one-offness to the action.
  12. (Mandarin, colloquial) Particle used after 些 (xiē).
  13. (dialectal Mandarin) Particle used in some time-related words.
  14. (obsolete, Wu, Xiang, Gan, dialectal Cantonese, dialectal Min) (= 搿) this; that
  15. (Cantonese, Wu) Word-initial particle, serving as the definite article.
  16. (Cantonese, Wu, Teochew) Possessive particle. Equivalent to Mandarin 的 (de).
    → 嘅 (ge3) (Cantonese), 格 (kaq) (Wu)
  17. (dialectal) Sentence-final declarative, affirmative, or prohibitive particle. Equivalent to Mandarin 的 (de), 了 (le).
  18. (often dialectal) Emphatic particle between a pronoun and a noun, usually to highlight some negative quality of the person.

Synonyms[edit]

Dialectal synonyms of 個 (“classifier for people”) [map]
Variety Location Words
Formal (Written Standard Chinese) 個
Mandarin Beijing 個
Taiwan 個
Jinan 個
Xi'an 個
Wuhan 個
Chengdu 個
Yangzhou 個
Hefei 個
Cantonese Guangzhou 個
Hong Kong 個
Taishan 個
Yangjiang 個
Gan Nanchang 個、隻
Hakka Meixian 隻
Jin Taiyuan 個
Min Bei Jian'ou 隻
Min Dong Fuzhou 個、隻
Min Nan Xiamen 個
Chaozhou 個
Wu Shanghai 個
Suzhou 個
Wenzhou 個
Xiang Changsha 個、隻
Shuangfeng 個

Compounds[edit]

Derived terms from 個

Descendants[edit]

Sino-Xenic (個):
  • Japanese: 個 (こ) (ko)
  • Korean: 개 (個, gae)
  • Vietnamese: cá (個)

Others:

Japanese[edit]

Kanji[edit]

個

(grade 5 “Kyōiku” kanji)

Readings[edit]

Counter[edit]

個 (hiragana こ, rōmaji -ko)

  1. item, article, thing
    あの枝 (えだ)に桜 (さくら)ん坊 (ぼ)が十 (じゅう)二 (に)個 (こ)だけあります。
    Ano eda ni sakuranbo ga jūni-ko dake arimasu.
    There are only twelve cherries on that branch.

Usage notes[edit]

This is the most generic counter in Japanese. It can be used to count just about anything.

Korean[edit]

Hanja[edit]

個 • (gae) (hangeul 개, McCune-Reischauer kae)

  1. a piece
  2. a unit
  3. an item.

Vietnamese[edit]

Han character[edit]

個 (cá, cái)

  1. generic classifier

References[edit]

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