Meaning
(a measure word); individual
Chinese: 常用量词，也可表示单个。
Hear the Four Tones
The same syllable “ge” becomes a different word in each tone. 个 is the 4th tone. Tap any tone to hear a native voice and see its pitch shape.
Stroke Order
Tap Animate to watch the strokes in order, or Practice to trace it yourself.
Common Words
- 个子gè zistature; height; size (of a person or object); (agriculture) bundle of cereal stalks tied together
- 整个zhěng gèwhole; entire; total
- 个人gè rénindividual; personal; oneself
- 个性gè xìngindividuality; personality
- 各个gè gèevery; various; separately, one by one
Example Sentence
我想买三个苹果。Wǒ xiǎng mǎi sān ge píng guǒ.I want to buy three apples.
我WǒI想xiǎngto think (about)买mǎito buy三sānthree个ge(measure word)苹果píng guǒApple (American tech compa。
Go deeper
Where this character comes from
Simplified from 個/箇. It is the all-purpose measure word, used when a more specific one is not needed (一个人, 三个苹果); also ‘individual’.
A way to remember it
The default measure word — 一个 of almost anything.
Easy to confuse with
- 人‘Person’: the lower part of 个 is 人, with a stroke added on top.