動物 – How to Count Animals in Japanese
In Japanese, there are special Kanji characters that are used to count things. These are called 助数詞 in Japanese and depending on what you are counting you will use a different Kanji or counter. If you want to count animals here are the counters you will want to know.
INDEX
匹 – Small Animals
The most commonly used counter for animals is 匹. This Kanji counts cats, dogs, mice, and all sorts of small animals. 匹 can be considered the counter used for counting animals in general.
https://japaneseuniverse.com/2024/02/18/pac-man-in-japaneseconcepts-behind-development-to-global-icon/頭 – Big Animals
頭 is the Kanji for head in Japanese. However, it is also a counter for big animals. Anything large like an elephant, rhino, giraffe, lion, or some other large animal is counted with 頭.
尾 – Fish
The 尾 Kanji means tale. this Kanji counts fish. This is mostly used as a way to count fish that have been caught and are to be eaten. Usually, you would use 匹 in order to count fish in general.
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There are more specific ways to count specific fish and can get complicated. In general, though you could get away with using 匹 to talk about fish.
羽 – Birds and Rabbits
Finally, we have 羽 which means feather. This character counts birds for the most part. However, it also counts rabbits! One explanation for that is because, at one time in the past, people were only allowed to eat bird meat in Japan. In order to extend this so people could have variety someone started counting rabbits like birds. Another explanation may be because the soft meat of rabbits is similar to bird meat.
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