Burmese numerical

classifiers

In Burmese, classifiers or measure words,

in the form of particles, are used when
counting or measuring nouns. They
immediately follow the number, unless the
number is a round number (ends in a zero),
in which case, the measure word precedes
the number. Nouns to which the classifiers
refer to can be omitted if the context
allows, because many classifiers have
implicit meanings.

The only exceptions to this rule are

measurements of time or age (minutes,
hours, days, years, etc.), where a preceding
noun is not required, as the time
measurement acts as a measure word.

Classifiers
See IPA/Burmese for an explanation of the
phonetic symbols used in this section.
Burmese IPA Transliteration Main usage

People and animals

ေကာင် [kàuɰ̃ ] kaung animals

ပါး [pá] pa sacred persons (such as Buddhist monks and nuns)

ေယာက် [jauʔ] yauk persons (general classifier)

ှ ်း [ʃíɰ̃ ] shin pairs of draught cat t le

ဦး [ʔú] u people, monks and nuns

Other measure words

ကံုး [kóuɰ̃ ] koun garlands, necklaces, st ringed it ems

ကျ ိ က် [t ɕaiʔ] kyaik draught s gulped down

ကျ ိပ် [t ɕeiʔ] kyeik it ems in 't ens'

ခါ [kʰà] kha number of t imes

ခု [kʰṵ] khu it ems (general classifier)

ခက် [kʰɛʔ] khet branches, sprays of flowers

ခင် [kʰìɰ̃ ] khin skeins of wool or cot t on

ေခါင်း [kʰáuɰ̃ ] khaung skeins of yarn

ခို င် [kʰàiɰ̃ ] khaing bunches of flowers, fruit s

ေခါက် [kʰauʔ] khauk t rips

ေခွ [kʰwè] khway rings, coils

ခွ နး် [kʰúɰ̃ ] khun words

ချ ီ [t ɕʰì] chi performances or shows

ချ ိ း [dʑó] cho component s of a rat io

ချက် [t ɕʰɛʔ] chet st rokes, blows, hit s, point s

st rokes of clocks, drums, gongs, et c.
ေချာင်း [t ɕʰáuɰ̃ ] chaung t hin, long it ems (like pencils, st icks)

ချပ် [t ɕʰaʔ] chat flat it ems (like t ables)

ြခည် [t ɕʰì] chi rings, bangles

စီ း [sí] si vehicles and t ransport animals

စည်း [sí] si bundles

စင်း [síɰ̃ ] sin long-shaped it ems (like arrows, boat s, cars)

ေစာင် [sàuɰ̃ ] saung lit erary pieces, document s, let t ers, et c.

စံု [sòuɰ̃ ] soun set s or pairs

ဆ [sʰa̰] hsa number of t imes per equal amount

ဆူ [sʰù] hsu sacred object s and parabaik (Pali manuscript s)

ေဆာင် [sʰàuɰ̃ ] hsaung buildings (like houses, monast eries and royal buildings)

ဆိုငး် [sʰáiɰ̃ ] hsaing work shift s, work t eams, packet s of gold foil

different legs of a journey, component part s of abst ract

တန် [t àɰ̃ ] t an
concept s

တန ် ့ [t a̰ɰ̃] t an bars, st ripes, et c.

တုတ် [t ouʔ] t ouk carcasses of hares

တွဲ [t wɛ́] t we it ems in pairs, bunches or clust ers

တွက် [t wɛʔ] t wet snapping of fingers

ထပ် [t ʰaʔ] ht at layers, st rat a, st oreys of buildings, et c.

ထမ် း [t ʰáɰ̃ ] ht an loads carried wit h a shoulder pole (yoke)

ေထာက် [t ʰauʔ] ht auk st ages of a journey, widt h of a point or t ip of somet hing

ထည် [t ʰɛ̀ ] ht e art icles of clot hing

ထုပ် [t ʰouʔ] ht out packages

ထံုး [t ʰóuɰ̃ ] ht oun knot s, coils, et c.

ထွာ [t ʰwà] ht wa number of hand spans

ေထွ [t ʰwè] ht wei varied it ems; melds of playing cards

နပ် [naʔ] nat meals

ပါး [pá] pa sacred persons or object s (such as Buddhist monks)

ေပါ [pɔ́ ] paw bundles of seedlings

ေပါက် [pauʔ] pauk dot s or drops

ပိုင် [pàiɰ̃ ] paing monk's robe; piece of silk used as headdress

ပိုငး် [páiɰ̃ ] paing part or division of somet hing

ပတ် [paʔ] pat weeks

t all upright t hings (t rees, plant s, poles, et c.); long st rands

ပင် [pìɰ̃ ] pin
(hair, t hread, et c.).

ပိုဒ် [paiʔ] paik paragraphs

ပုဒ် [pouʔ] poud pieces of writ ing (such as art icles,verse, songs, et c.)

ပံု [pòuɰ̃ ] poun piles of mat erial

ပျစ် [pjiʔ] pyit mat s of palm t hat ching

ြပ း [pjú] pyu it ems in t wos or pairs.

ပိ က် [pjaiʔ] pyaik frequency of rain and snow

ြပင် [pjìɰ̃ ] pyin doct rines, concept s, dict ums, et c.

ြပာ [pjàɰ̃ ] pyan number of t imes

ပွဲ [pwɛ́] pwe dishes; offert ories

ဖီ း [pʰí] hpi hands of bananas or plant ains

ေဖာင် [pʰàuɰ̃ ] hpaung height or dept h equal t o t he height of a person st anding

wit h upraised hands (i.e. from t he soles of his feet t o t he
 t ips of his upraised hands)

ဖံု [pʰòuɰ̃ ] hpoun t hings in heaps, bat ches or packs

ဖန် [pʰàɰ̃ ] hpan denot es frequency

ြဖာ [pʰjà] hpya denot es variet y, diversit y

ဖွာ [pʰwà] hpwa number of puffs (from cigaret t es, et c.)

မည် [mjì] myi ingredient s of a drug; kinds of dishes served

ြမ [mjù] myu pot s of t oddy wine

မျက် [mjeʔ] myet bundles of loops in a skein of cot t on

မတ် [m̥ ouʔ] hmout number of scoops wit h a dipper or ladle

segment s of fruit (such as cloves of garlic); part s of a

မာ [m̥ wà] hmwa
mult iparous birt h (such as t wins)

ေြမာင့် [m̥ ja̰uɰ̃ ] hmyaung longit udinally divided segment s (such as cloves of garlic)

ယာ [jà] ya bet el quids

ယှက် [ʃɛʔ] shek t hin slices of food (such as pancake, waffle, et c.)

ရန် [jàɰ̃ ] yan object s in pairs

ရပ် [jaʔ] yat it emisat ion; expressing t hings in t erms of a man's height

This stretches of sleep may be confusing or unclear to readers.

ေရး [jé] yei

ေရစီ း [jè zí] yei zi leaves in a parabaik (Pali manuscript s)

ု ိ က် [jaiʔ] yaik lengt hs measured wit h a bamboo pole

ရစ် [jiʔ] yit inst alment s, st ages, chevrons, st ripes, et c.

ရွ က် [jwɛʔ] ywet count ing sheet s

races in a cont est consist ing of a series of cart or boat

လား [lá] la
races
လီ [lì] li mult iples, frequencies

used in connect ion wit h mult iples or in replicat e, part s of

ေလး [lé] lei
a rat io

ေလာ [lɔ́ ] law number of t imes

လက် [lɛʔ] lek elongat ed it ems; t urns in t he game of dice

လုတ် [louʔ] lout mout hfuls of food

လံးု [lóuɰ̃ ] loun round, globular it ems

လိငး် [l ̥áiɰ̃ ] hlaing sheaves of paddy

လာ [l ̥wà] hlwa layers, st rat a, et c.

ဝါး [wá] wa handsbreadt h

သား [θá] t ha number of t icals or fract ions of a t ical or viss

သုတ် [θouʔ] t houk movement s in groups or operat ions in shift s

long, sinuous t hings (such as st rands of pearls, garlands of

သွယ် [θwɛ̀ ] t hwe
flowers); pat hs, ways, met hods, means, et c.

See also
 For a list of words relating to Burmese
numerical classifiers, see the Burmese
classifiers category of words in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Burmese units of measurement

Burmese language
Burmese numerals
Measure word

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