一粒苹果

[wai ming]

Hi everyone,

I've got 2 friends (one from Malaysia, and another from Singapore), who both insist that the correct measure word (量词) for apple (苹果) is 一粒， ie 一粒苹果。

My other Chinese-speaking friends disagree, saying that it should be 一个苹果, and arguing that 一粒 is used for small things, such as grains of rice. My 2 friends counter this by saying that 一粒 can also be used for large objects, such as 一粒榴莲 (one durian - I hope I've got the right characters there).

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Is it correct to say 一粒苹果 and 一粒榴莲? Does anyone know why some people say these phrases? Is 一粒 reserved for small grain-like things?

Thanks!

[HashiriKata]

Waiming,

I'm completely in agreement with your mother!

As for 一粒苹果, I don't use it and don't know if it's correct or not. It's probably a valid variation.

[nipponman]

Singaporian Chinese and Maylasian Chinese may be different from "Standard Chinese" so they may say something over there that isn't part of the standard. As far as I know, 粒 is only used with small things.

[self-taught-mba]

I always hear only "yi ge" but that's in BJ.

I know it's just a curiousity, but in the grand scheme of things . . .

I long ago gave up on MW (measure words) , deciding to use the proper ones if I pick them up but deferring active learning of them until I master the other 5000 or so characters/phrases I still need first.

[elina]

In Beijing, we always say 一个苹果

Please see Chinese-English Dictionary of Measure Words汉英量词词典

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[gougou]

Would there be a book that allows reverse look-up? So if I look under 苹果 it gives me 个 (or 粒)?

[HashiriKata]

Would there be a book that allows reverse look-up? So if I look under 苹果 it gives me 个 (or 粒)?

I can't imagine there's such as "The Reverse Chinese-English Dictionary of Measure Words"

It's conceivable that there are / will be Chinese-English Dictionaries for learners that give appropriate measure words for the nouns entries. ( To some extent, the Oxford Starter Chinese Dictionary does this but the dictionary itself is only for beginners.)

[Kong Junrui]

According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_measure_word), 粒 is the measure word for "grain." It also says that "an apple" would be 一个苹果, and according to my Oxford Chinese Minidictionary, 个 is the measure word for apples.

[nipponman]

Incidently, I find this is the best way to learn vocabulary, by learning the mw with it. Hey! That's what we should do! Make a list of all the common vocab needed (HSK maybe) and give it the measure word and BAM!

[geraldc]

Just did a search in Yahoo there are 39,946 hits for 个苹果

612 for 粒苹果

11598 for 只苹果

[elina]

It's conceivable that there are / will be Chinese-English Dictionaries for learners that give appropriate measure words for the nouns entries.

It's heard that the BLCU will publish a book like that, maybe next year, when it comes out, I could show you the book here. And here's the information of Chinese-English Dictionary of Measure Words which is available:

http://shop.aaawww.net/mod8/detail.php?gid=322304&userid=7912&catid=493986

[TaijiMantis]

普通话，不说一粒苹果，说一个苹果。

一粒米，一粒葡萄，一粒樱桃都可以，因为粒从米，米都是很小的，说某些小东西用粒。

苹果比较大，不说粒。

在某些方言里面可能有特别。

[Mugi]

I think in this instance Singaporean/Malaysian Mandarin has been influenced by Hokkien where 粒 is the correct measure word for all things that are spherical, no matter what their size, so even one of those big blow-up beach balls takes 粒 as its measure word.

[in_lab]

If you search Traditional character web sites, or Taiwanese web sites, you'll find that the most common measure word for apples is 顆 ke1. If you include simplified character sites, 個 is the most popular.

[xiaocai]

It is malaysian and singaporean chinese. Not only these, they use li on almost all kinds of veges, some even use like "yi li ren"

[turing2020_yahoo]

A friend of mine from Fujian says 'yi tou wenzi'(一头蚊子，a mosquito）！喷饭..

[Mugi]

I realised I didn't know how to write " cau1/chau " (in Cantonese for "bunch of", "cluster" for fruits), have searched various dictionaries but still don't know

I just checked a couple of dictionaries here and came up with 揪 in two of them, 抽 in one and 搊 in yet another. The latter is the closest in meaning. 抽 is almost certainly a 代替字.