Chinese Numbers Explained

Volume & Capacity

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The volume or capacity of an object could refer to its size, i.e. how much space it occupies:
体积tǐ jī
, or it could refer to how much a hollow object could contain, either something that typically contains solid objects, like a room or a car:
容积róng jī
, or something that usually contains liquids, like a bottle or a cup:
容量róng liàng
.
These are the units of the Chinese traditional system for measuring capacity, which are now standardized to the metric system:
Traditional Volume Units
cuō0.001milliliter
sháo0.01centiliter
0.1deciliter
shēng1liter
dǒu10decaliter
dàn100hectoliter
Since the traditional Chinese units are standardized to the metric system you can use them to refer to metric volumes, but you may also see the prefix
gōng
used to emphasize they are equivalent to metric units:
Metric Volume Units
公撮gōng cuō0.001milliliter
公勺gōng sháo0.01centiliter
公合gōng gě0.1deciliter
公升gōng shēng1liter
公斗gōng dǒu10decaliter
公石gōng dàn100hectoliter
You can also use the metric prefixes with
shēng
:
Metric Prefix Volume Units
毫升háo shēngmilliliter
厘升lí shēngcentiliter
分升fēn shēngdeciliter
shēngliter
十升shí shēngdecaliter
百升bǎi shēnghectoliter
千升qiān shēngkiloliter


To express volumes in cubic terms, use
立方lì fāng
, either with metric or Imperial units:
Cubic Volumes
立方米lì fāng mǐcubic meter
立方公尺lì fāng gōng chǐcubic meter
立方厘米lì fāng lí mǐcubic centimeter
立方英寸lì fāng yīng cùncubic inch
立方英尺lì fāng yīng chǐcubic foot
To refer to the Imperial units of volume there are several loanwords, based on characters that have sounds that are similar to their English equivalents:
English Units
加仑jiā lúngallon
品脱pǐn tuōpint
品特pǐn tèpint
夸脱kuā tuōquart

Examples

Two liters of milk
twolitermilk
牛奶
liǎngshēngniú nǎi
Ten cubic meters of sand
tencubicmetersand
立方
shílì fāngshā
A liter has sixty one cubic inches
oneliterhassixty onecubicinches
六十一立方英寸
shēngyǒuliù shí yīlì fāngyīng cùn
Four quarts in a gallon
agallonhasfourquarts
加仑夸脱
jiā lúnyǒukuā tuō
Two liter bottle of soda
twoliterbottlesoda
汽水
liǎngshēngpíngqì shuǐ
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