根 counts long, thin things that are stiff or that grow: sticks, needles, candles, bananas, hairs, ropes, cigarettes and bones. 条 suits long things that bend or wind; 根 suits thinner, stick-like ones.
- 一根香蕉a banana
- 一根头发a hair
- 两根筷子two chopsticks
56 nouns that take 根
Most common first线thread; string烟cigarette or pipe tobacco; smoke骨头bone; moral character香fragrant; sweet smelling针needle; pin胡子beard; mustache or whiskers杆stick; pole草grass; straw蜡烛candle木头slow-witted; blockhead香肠sausage香蕉banana管子tube; pipe绳rope血管vein; artery电线wire; power cord皮带strap; leather belt腰带belt眉毛eyebrow火柴match (for lighting fire)弦bow string; string of musical instrument鞋带shoelace萝卜radish (Raphanus sativus), esp. white radish 白萝卜 (báiluóbo)棒棒糖lollipop; sucker铁轨rail; railroad track胡须beard辫子plait; braid柱pillar柱子pillar筷子chopsticks鞭子whip冰棍popsicle; ice lolly竹bamboo; Kangxi radical 118竹子bamboo冰棒popsicle; ice pop烟头cigarette butt; fag-end电线杆electric pole; telephone pole铁丝iron wire; subway enthusiast (abbr. for 地铁粉丝 (dìtiěfěnsī))链条chain梗branch; stem车轴axle白发white or gray hair鸡毛chicken feather; trivial竿子bamboo pole油条youtiao (deep-fried breadstick); slick and sly person裤带belt (in trousers)钓竿fishing rod大梁capital of Wei 魏 during Warring states扁担carrying pole; shoulder pole轧辊(steelmaking) roll; roller棒糖sucker; lollipop笞杖a cudgel翎毛feather; plume菜头(Tw) radish, esp. white radish 白萝卜 (báiluóbo)钓鱼杆fishing rod鸡腿chicken leg; drumstick
More measure words
The nouns come from the measure-word notes in CC-CEDICT, ordered by how often each word appears in film and TV subtitles. Many nouns take more than one measure word, and 个 often works in casual speech.
Search measurements
Beam preview · 15-second idle timeout · No prewarming. Total time includes the network and any container startup. “First search” identifies a new Go process; it is not a separate measurement of Beam’s startup time.