Measure Cards app icon Measure Cards.
Chinese measure words

Not everything is .

Measure words are the part of Chinese nobody teaches you properly. Measure Cards holds 168 of them, sorted by what they actually count, each with the words and sentences that use it, read aloud. Then it drills you on the ones you keep getting wrong.

iPhone · iPad · iOS 17 or later

Colored by tone
zhāng
Flat objects; paper
céng
Floors of a building
Things with a handle
biàn
Times an action is completed

What's inside

A reference you can actually use

Browse

Sorted by what they count

168 measure words across fifteen categories — people, animals, containers, vehicles, buildings, time, money and the rest. Looking for the one that counts a flat thing is easier than remembering its name.

Examples

Words and sentences, read aloud

Nearly every measure word comes with the nouns it counts and full sentences using it, each one recorded. The audio ships inside the app, so it works on a plane.

Tones

Color as a second channel

Every character is tinted by its tone, with mnemonics for each. Prefer Pleco's palette, or MDBG's, or Hanping's? Pick one. Or build your own.

Practice

Drills that find the gaps

See a word, or hear one, and choose the measure word that counts it. Scheduling brings each one back as you're about to forget it, and Plus goes straight at the words you keep getting wrong.

Your script

Simplified or traditional

Read 简体字 or 繁體字, with pinyin tone marks, pinyin tone numbers or zhuyin. The whole app follows the setting, examples included.

Your words

Add what you're missing

Add measure words of your own, with your own examples. Type ba3 and the tone marks, zhuyin and tone color are worked out for you.


A reference first

There are no streaks to protect here and no daily goal nagging you back. Look a measure word up when you need it, practice when you want to, and let the scheduling handle the rest. Measure words are learned by meeting them repeatedly over years, not by clearing a queue before midnight.

No account, no analytics, no tracking. There is no sign-in anywhere in the app, and nothing about your practice leaves your devices. Your favourites, your own words and your history sync through your personal iCloud, which I have no access to. Read the privacy policy.

Get Measure Cards

The app is free: all 168 measure words, their examples, the audio, the tone colors and practice at every scope. Measure Cards Plus is a one-time $4.99 unlock — drills on your weak spots, a view of what you mix up, unlimited words of your own, two more voices and a palette you build yourself. Not a subscription.

iPhone · iPad · iOS 17 or later