 The vast majority of classifiers are those that count or classify nouns ( nominal classifiers , as in all the examples given so far , as opposed to verbal classifiers ) . These are further subdivided into count @-@ classifiers and mass @-@ classifiers , described below . In everyday speech , people often use the term " measure word " , or its literal Chinese equivalent 量词 liàngcí , to cover all Chinese count @-@ classifiers and mass @-@ classifiers , but the types of words grouped under this term are not all the same . Specifically , the various types of classifiers exhibit numerous differences in meaning , in the kinds of words they attach to , and in syntactic behavior . 
