Measure word for medicine
药 yào medicine HSK 2
一种药 yì zhǒng yào
种 zhǒng
一片药 yí piàn yào
片 piàn · For slices, tablets, stretches of land, scenes and feelings
一服药 yí fù yào
服 fù · For doses of herbal medicine
Also counted with 种
Type a noun in English, pinyin or Chinese.
What is the measure word for medicine in Chinese?
Medicine is 药 (yào), and its measure word is 种, 片 or 服: one medicine is 一种药. The dictionary also gives 片 (一片药), 服 (一服药).
What is a measure word?
In Chinese a number can’t go straight before a noun: you say 一本书 (one “volume” of book), not 一书. The word in the middle is the measure word, or classifier. Each noun takes its own, often by its shape: 张 for flat things, 条 for long thin ones, 本 for books.
What if I don’t know the measure word?
个 (gè) works for people and most things, and native speakers use it a lot in speech. The right measure word sounds more natural, and some nouns never take 个.
Why is 一 said yí here?
一 is said yí before a fourth tone (一个 yí ge, 一件 yí jiàn) and yì before the other tones (一本 yì běn, 一张 yì zhāng).
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Measure words from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0), for the official HSK word list. Speakers use others too.