About
The simplified character 只 represents the merger of two distinct traditional characters with different meanings and structures. The original 只 combines the mouth radical 口 with the diverging component 八, functioning first as a grammatical particle and later coming to mean "only" or "merely". The traditional character 隻, meanwhile, depicts a hand holding a single bird, establishing its role as a measure word for individual animals, one item of a pair, or specific objects like boats. The simplification process combined these two functions into the single form 只, making it a versatile character used both as an adverb of limitation and a classifier for various nouns, with its specific role determined by grammatical context.
Etymology Hide
Example Sentences Hide
我有一只小猫。
他只喝牛奶。
我只要一杯水。
这只是个开始。
我们只有三个苹果。
只吃零食不健康。
他只完成了作业的一部分。
尽管他只有十岁，但他已经读了很多书。