匹
Mnemonic
A box sprouts tiny legs and skitters across the floor. Peek inside—kittens! This is your Counter For Small Animals. Each time a critter hops out on its legs, you tap the box and tally another. It scurries off to find more animals to count.
Additional thoughts
Picture a cardboard box with stubby animal legs poking out the bottom, running around collecting small creatures. The box itself IS the counter—every animal that emerges gets tallied on its side.Quick recall
A box on legs skitters around tallying every critter—a living Counter For Small Animals.Details
The keyword for 匹 is counter for small animals. This kanji serves as the standard counting unit used when enumerating small to medium-sized animals such as cats, dogs, insects, and fish. In classical usage, it was also associated with bolts of cloth and could refer to matching or pairing things together. Its most common modern application, however, remains as the go-to counter for animals that are not particularly large, distinguishing them from larger animals like horses or elephants, which use a different counter.
- On'yomi
- ひつ
- Kun'yomi
- ひき