# an egg



## yuechu

大家好！

I'm learning some Cantonese and in the video, it explains that the word egg (鸡蛋) can take the 量词 "只". Is this the same in Mandarin or would it normally simply be “个"?
Thanks!


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## WellingtonZ

Hey pal
I don't know how the expression is in Cantonese, but in Mandarin we prefer "个" to "只" when it comes to describe eggs. And "只" is more often used to describe "鸡" than "鸡蛋" 
i.e. 一只鸡／一个鸡蛋


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## yuechu

Oh ok! That's what I thought. Thanks for your help, WellingtonZ!


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## WellingtonZ

baosheng said:


> Oh ok! That's what I thought. Thanks for your help, WellingtonZ!


You're welcome


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## brofeelgood

隻 is widely used when counting eggs in Cantonese. You see it in recipes all the time:
. 水1碗
. 鹽2克
. 雞蛋2隻

一粒蛋, 一隻蛋 and 一個蛋 all sound fine to me.

In Mandarin, I'm more inclined to use 個, 粒 and 顆, but never 只/隻.


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## fyl

To me, 一只鸡蛋 isn't wrong in Mandarin, though it may not be as common as 一个.
个、只、枚、颗 are all OK. 粒 is a rare one to me.


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## Skatinginbc

隻：成雙成對, 成組成群之物的單件, 如, 一隻眼, 一隻手, 一隻獠牙, 一隻筷子, 一隻雁, 一隻羊。

只 (sometimes also written as 隻)：中空環狀物 (e.g., 一只鑽戒, 一只玉鐲, 一只金錶), 內裝異物的圓物 (e.g. 一只氣球, 一只蛋, 一只彈珠)或容器(一只箱子, 一只船, 一只蒸鍋).


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## Skatinginbc

Skatinginbc said:


> 內裝異物的圓物 (e.g. 一只氣球, 一只蛋, 一只彈珠)


Also, 一只桔子, 一只西瓜, 一只圆形竹筐中装着一条二丈八尺长的白绸, etc.


Skatinginbc said:


> 成組成群之物的單件


It may also occasionally apply to humans, for instance, 《平樂府志》一隻兵,  《維基百科》一隻球員, etc.


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## Chung Min Hui

for me is 一粒鸡蛋. Even you type the pinyin, it will show automatically.


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## SuperXW

Chung Min Hui said:


> for me is 一粒鸡蛋. Even you type the pinyin, it will show automatically.


In Mainland China, I agree with fyl (post#6). 粒 is more often for smaller rounded things, such as 一粒米, 一粒药.


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## retrogradedwithwind

不是还有一粒西瓜嘛


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## Messquito

In Taiwan, I'd say 只 as a quantifier is nearly completely obsolete. We use 顆 for eggs most often. Sometimes you can hear 個.
(I seldom hear 粒 for eggs, and I agree with #10, but since 粒 is use in Taiwanese Hokkien to replace 顆 in Mandarin, I can imagine some people opting for 粒 in Mandarin for it.)


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## brofeelgood

retrogradedwithwind said:


> 不是还有一粒西瓜嘛




这毫无疑问是南洋华人的专有说法。


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## Skatinginbc

Messquito said:


> In Taiwan, I'd say 只 as a quantifier is nearly completely obsolete.


量詞「只」在台灣似乎一直都局限於書面語, 從未在口語中流行過。我在台灣時雖沒「聽」過, 倒也「見」過。我上網搜尋了一下, 輕易便找到一些台灣「一只雞蛋」的近年文獻例子。以前不常見但存在, 現在仍不常見但存在, 幾十年過去了, 好像沒變, 「看」不出有面臨絕跡的跡象。


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