What is the counter for ...?

This page is a short list of some of the various Japanese counting words, josuushi (助数詞). These words and the method of counting originate from Chinese. For each word, the methods of counting one, two and three of the items is also recorded, since these are often irregular.

Japanese counting words
Kanji	Counter word	One	Two	Three	Used to count
Animals, birds and people
匹	hiki	ippiki	nihiki	sanbiki	Small animals, fish
人	nin	hitori	futari	sannin	People
名	mei	ichimei	nimei	sanmei	People
羽	wa	ichiwa	niwa	sanwa	Birds and rabbits (because the ears of the rabbit resemble wings)
頭	tō	ittō	nitō	santō	Large animals and farmyard animals such as cows
尾	bi	ichibi	nibi	sanbi	Fish
Shapes
本	hon	ippon	nihon	sanbon	Long thin objects such as pencils. Also station platforms.
枚	mai	ichimai	nimai	sanmai	Flat objects such as pieces of paper.
Other
拍	haku	ippaku	nihaku	sanpaku	Moras. See What is the difference between a mora and a syllable?

About the kanji links: Choose the site for kanji links at the kanji.sljfaq.org options page.

External links

Japanese Numeral Counters. An impressive list of over five hundred Japanese counter words.
Mono no kazoekata [josūshi] (ものの数え方[助数詞]) (In Japanese.) A list of words which goes from the noun to its counter.

If you have questions, corrections, or comments, please contact Ben Bullock or use the discussion forum / Privacy policy


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