量 (liàng): quantity; amount; volume

Meanings

1 quantity; amount; volume
2 capacity; tolerance
3 to estimate; to gauge
4 classifier; measure word

Characters

量

liàng

quantity; amount; capacity

Examples

HSK 2

他的酒量很大。

Tā de jiǔliàng hěn dà.

He can hold his liquor well.

HSK 4

质量比数量更重要。

Zhìliàng bǐ shùliàng gèng zhòngyào.

Quality is more important than quantity.

HSK 7-9

去年的粮食产量创了纪录。

Qùnián de liángshí chǎnliàng chuàng le jìlù.

Last year's grain output set a record.

Tips

usage

The liàng reading is the noun reading - 'amount, quantity, capacity'. It anchors most of the high-frequency compounds: 数量 (quantity), 质量 (quality / mass), 重量 (weight), 能量 (energy), 尽量 (as much as possible). A few common compounds drop the tone to neutral 量 - 力量, 份量, 商量, 打量, 思量 - but these are still the 'quantity / weigh up' sense, just unstressed.

memory

Modern internet 量 - 流量 (web traffic, also a person's clout), 流量明星 (a star whose value is measured purely in click-count), 播放量 (play count), 点赞量 (likes), 阅读量 (reads). When you see -量 on a noun in social media context, read it as 'count of'.

Components

radical

里 lǐ

village; inside; mile

Bottom indexing radical 里 (Kangxi #166) - historically depicted a field plus earth, then 'lined-out village.' In 量 the lower 里 is a graphic residue of the body of the measuring vessel below its mouth. The pairing gives the picture of a calibrated container - exactly 'quantity / amount.' Same radical anchors 重 (heavy / weight), tightly related to measuring.

semantic

旦 dàn

dawn; sun above horizon

Top 5 strokes - graphically 旦 (sun above the horizon), but historically the top of an ancient measuring vessel: a 日-shaped opening with a horizontal lid. The whole 量 originally depicted a graduated container used to measure grain, with the 日 representing the open mouth from above. Read this slot as the vessel's mouth, not literally 'dawn.'