个 (gè): general measure word

Meanings

1 general measure word
2 individual
3 single one

Characters

个

gè

general measure word; individual

Simplified from 個 in the 1956 reform — the default counter for almost anything in modern Chinese.

Examples

我要一个。

Wǒ yào yī gè.

I want one.

我们家有三个人。

Wǒmen jiā yǒu sān gè rén.

There are three people in our family.

这个很好。

Zhège hěn hǎo.

This one is good.

各个最近怎么样？

Gègè zuìjìn zěnmeyàng?

How is each one doing recently?

Tips

grammar

个 is the default classifier — slot it between a number (or demonstrative) and a noun: number + 个 + noun. A more specific classifier may technically be required (e.g. 本 for books, 条 for long thin things), but in casual speech 个 covers almost anything and is always understood.

usage

In running speech 个 usually reduces to a toneless ge, especially after 这 / 那 / 哪 — hence zhège, nàge, nǎge. The underlying reading is still gè; tone-loss is just colloquial rhythm.

register

Older sources also list a rare reading gě, which today survives only in the northern colloquial pronoun 自个儿 ('oneself'). Everywhere else — classifier, bound 'individual' sense, place name 个旧 — the reading is gè.

Components

radical

丨 gǔn

vertical line; downward stroke

Bottom vertical stroke — the indexing Kangxi radical (#2). What survives of 個 in the simplified shape is essentially the 人 cap plus this single descending line, just enough silhouette to hold the place of the most-used classifier in modern Chinese.

semantic

人 rén

person; cap-shape

Top — a 人 ('person') cap acting as a graphic silhouette, not a meaning contributor. In the full traditional form 個 the right side was the phonetic 固; modern simplification kept only this two-stroke roof as a visual placeholder.