All measure words

粒 lì

The Chinese measure word for grains and tiny round things.

粒 counts grains and small particles: rice, sand, seeds, beans and pills. It is for smaller things than 颗.

  • 一粒米yí lì mǐa grain of rice
  • 一粒沙子yí lì shāzia grain of sand
  • 两粒药liǎng lì yàotwo pills

18 nouns that take 粒

Most common first
米mǐrice; meter (classifier)子弹zǐ dànbullet沙shāgranule; hoarse玉米yù mǐcorn; maize糖果táng guǒcandy盐yánsalt豆dòulegume; pulse; bean; pea; (old) stemmed cup or bowl花生huā shēngpeanut沙子shā zisand; grit珠zhūbead; pearl种子zhǒng ziseed安眠药ān mián yàosleeping pill药丸yào wánpill小麦xiǎo màiwheat珠子zhū zipearl; bead冰雹bīng báohail; hailstone弹子dàn zislingshot pellet; playing marbles龙眼lóng yǎnlongan fruit; dragon eye fruit

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.