Meaning
椅子 is the standard everyday word for a chair in Mandarin Chinese. It refers to any piece of furniture designed for one person to sit on, typically with a back and sometimes arms. This is one of the most basic household vocabulary items that beginners learn early.
Usage
Used in all contexts from formal to casual. The word is nearly always used with a measure word when counting (一把椅子). Native speakers use it for any type of chair: office chairs, dining chairs, armchairs, etc. For specific types, compounds like 轮椅 (wheelchair) or 躺椅 (recliner) are used.
Examples
- 01请坐这把椅子。.Please sit in this chair.
- 02教室里有三十张椅子。.There are thirty chairs in the classroom.
Characters
Measure words
- 把一把椅子
- 张三张椅子
Common collocations
- 坐椅子to sit on a chair
- 办公椅office chair
- 搬椅子to move a chair
- 轮椅wheelchair
Origin
椅 is the main morpheme meaning chair, with the wood radical 木 indicating it's traditionally made of wood. The suffix 子 is a common noun-forming suffix in Mandarin that doesn't add semantic meaning but makes the word disyllabic, which is preferred in modern Chinese.