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车 (a car) vs. 车辆 (vehicle)

马 (a horse) vs. 马匹 (horse)

In these examples, we take 车 and 马 and append their measure words to form new words: 车辆 and 马匹, respectively. I'm wondering if there are other examples I'm unaware of, and if this word construct applies in other cases.

Question: Are there other examples of 一辆车 vs. 车辆 and 一匹马 vs. 马匹?

1 Answer 1

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一匹马 --> 马匹

一疋布 --> 布疋

一只猪; 一只牛;一只狗 --> 猪只;牛只;狗只

一块石;一块铅;一块肉 --> 石块;铅块;肉块

一枝枪;一枝竹 --> 枪枝;竹枝

一锭银 --> 银锭

一层楼 --> 楼层

一堆沙 --> 沙堆

一式菜 --> 菜式

一朶花 --> 花朶

一本书 --> 书本

一间房 --> 房间

一件事 --> 事件

一群羊; 一群人 --> 羊群;人群

一张纸 --> 纸张

一局棋 --> 棋局

一滴水 --> 水滴

一條面 --> 面條

一粒米 --> 米粒

一段路;一段曲 --> 路段;曲段

一剂药 --> 药剂

一线光 --> 光线

Difference between the two: 'X 匹马' refers to 'X number of horses'; '马匹' refers to 'horses' in general

Notice: There are some exceptions:

For examples, 一封信 (a letter) is different from 信封 (envelope), while 一张纸 (a sheet of paper) and 纸张 (paper sheets) are both referring to the same thing. The classifier for 信封 is 个, as in 一个信封; the classifier for 纸张 is still 张, as in 一张纸张

生 in 一生人(a life) is not a classifier for 人(people). 生 itself is a classifier for 人生 (life), as in 一生人(生), 几生人(生)

Also, 一团饭 a (lump of rice) is different from 饭团 (rice ball) which is a specific term for a food item. The classifier for 饭团 is 个 as in 一个饭团

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  • 1
    一群人 / 人群 // 一间房 / 房间? Dec 25, 2020 at 7:24
  • Is it correct to say 一瞬间 / 间瞬 ? Dec 25, 2020 at 8:34
  • 2
    间瞬 is not a thing
    – Tang Ho
    Dec 25, 2020 at 8:35

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