块

塊
kuài
measure word HSK 1 #372

Meanings

  1. 1 piece
  2. 2 lump
  3. 3 yuan (unit of money)

Examples

HSK 1
Zhè ge duōshao kuài qián?
How much does this cost?
HSK 1
Gěi wǒ wǔ kuài qián.
Give me five yuan.
HSK 3
Yí kuài dàngāo.
A piece of cake.

Tips

usage
块 is the spoken form for the Chinese yuan (元). In shops and conversation, everyone says 块. 元 is used in writing and formal contexts.

Components

radical
土 tǔ
earth (radical)
Left earth radical - the indexing radical, depicting a mound on a baseline. Originally 块 meant 'a clod of earth' broken off the ground, hence the concrete sense 'lump, piece' and the colloquial yuán-quantifier 'a piece of money.' Same radical anchors 地 ground, 坐 to sit, 城 city wall.
phonetic
夬 guài
decisive break
Right side 夬 supplies the sound - guài drifted to kuài via g→k alternation, with the rime preserved. Same phonetic series produces 快 fast, 决 to decide, 缺 to lack - all keep an echo of 夬's 'sharp break' meaning. Pure phonetic role; meaning is carried by 土.

Stroke Order

块 kuài