个 (gè) · general measure word, individual, single one

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

HSK 1

我们家有三个人。

Wǒmen jiā yǒu sān gè rén.

There are three people in our family.

HSK 1

这个很好。

Zhège hěn hǎo.

This one is good.

HSK 4

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.