classifier
classifier — noun
1. a letter, group of letters, or word that is added to a word to indicate what gen
a letter, group of letters, or word that is added to a word to indicate what general type of meaning it belongs to — such as the prefix 'un-' (which gives words a negative sense) and the suffix '-er' (which names a person who performs an action).
The prefix 'un-' acts as a classifier, telling readers the word has the opposite meaning.
prefix 'un-' marks opposite meaning
The suffix '-less' is a classifier that shows lack of the root word's quality.
suffix '-less' marks absence
Layla learned that '-ness' changes an adjective to a noun — a noun-forming classifier.
When Yuki saw that 're-' means 'again,' she understood how classifiers affect meaning.
Stefan noticed that the classifier '-ful' changes 'help' into an adjective meaning 'full of help.'
文法句型
[classifier] + [base word] forms new word
2. someone or something whose job is to sort things into groups or categories — for
someone or something whose job is to sort things into groups or categories — for example, a scientist who divides animals into species, or a computer program that decides whether an email is spam or not.
At the museum, Nadia works as a classifier sorting fossils by type and age.
classifier + sorts [items] by [criteria]
A spam classifier in the email program automatically moves unwanted messages to a separate folder.
Without a good classifier, organising a library of ten thousand books would take months.
Mira's phone has an image classifier that spots cats, dogs, or trees in photos.
Baraka trained a simple classifier, and now his movie collection is sorted by genre.
- categoriser
almost the same meaning, but less common in technical writing
- sorter
less formal; often used for physical objects rather than abstract data
文法句型
[classifier] + sorts/classifies + [items]
用法筆記
Often used in computing and machine learning to refer to an algorithm that assigns data items to predefined categories.
常見錯誤
3. in certain languages, a word that appears alongside a number to indicate what ty
in certain languages, a word that appears alongside a number to indicate what type of item is being counted — for example, in Chinese you use '张' (zhāng) for flat things like paper and tables, and '条' (tiáo) for long things like fish and roads.
In Thai, each noun type needs its own classifier for counting.
noun type + needs + its own classifier
Saira struggled to remember whether to use '张' or '条' as the classifier for a river in Chinese.
In Japanese, Heather used the classifier 'mai' when she asked for three sheets of paper.
The classifier '杯' is used for drinks, so 'yī bēi chá' means 'one cup of tea.'
Andrés found it odd that Korean uses different classifiers for people and objects.
- measure word
the preferred term in many textbooks; slightly broader in meaning
- counter word
used especially in descriptions of Japanese; refers to the same concept
文法句型
number + [classifier] + noun
用法筆記
Common in East and Southeast Asian languages such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, and Vietnamese. Also called 'measure word' or 'counter word.'