Counter followed by 隣


Referring to items at a mask selling stall:

> じいさんはうさぎの **二個隣** にあるドラえもんを指さした。  
>  The man pointed at the ドラえもん figure ??? next to the rabbit

I'm confused about what 二個隣 means. Does it mean that the ドラえもん is two items
along from the rabbit? Or there is a ドラえもん on either side of the rabbit? Or
something else?

Let D be ドラえもん, R be rabbit and x be any other item. What does the arrangement
look like?  
RxxD?  
RxD?  
DRD?  
???




It's `RxD`.

1個隣, ひとつ隣 `RD`  
2個隣, ふたつ隣 `RxD`  
3個隣, みっつ隣 `RxxD`

Numbers larger than three is possible, but the larger the number is, the less
likely 隣 would be used. People use 5個離れて, ななつ先 and such instead.

You can use other counters depending on what's aligned, for example 2人隣, 3台隣,
2軒隣.

1個隣/1つ隣 is redundant because just saying 隣 usually means 1つ隣. But it's
sometimes used to explicitly say something is directly adjacent.




It's `RxD`.

1個隣, ひとつ隣 `RD`  
2個隣, ふたつ隣 `RxD`  
3個隣, みっつ隣 `RxxD`

Numbers larger than three is possible, but the larger the number is, the less
likely 隣 would be used. People use 5個離れて, ななつ先 and such instead.

You can use other counters depending on what's aligned, for example 2人隣, 3台隣,
2軒隣.

1個隣/1つ隣 is redundant because just saying 隣 usually means 1つ隣. But it's
sometimes used to explicitly say something is directly adjacent.

