椅子
chair
yǐzi
What does 椅子 mean?
椅子 (yǐzi) is the everyday word for 'chair' — a seat with a back, the kind you find at a dining table, desk, or office. The second syllable 子 is unstressed (neutral tone), as in many Mandarin noun compounds (桌子 'table,' 房子 'house'). The standard measure word is 把 (bǎ) — 一把椅子 ('one chair') — because 把 historically counts things you can grasp (knives, umbrellas, chairs with armrests).
In casual speech, 个 is often substituted: 一个椅子 sounds fine. 椅子 specifically means a chair with a back; a stool without a back is 凳子 (dèngzi), and a sofa is 沙发 (shāfā) — Chinese distinguishes these three categories more carefully than English, which lumps small seats under 'chair' or 'stool' loosely.
Character breakdown
chair. Left radical 木 ('wood') signals the material; the right side 奇 is phonetic.
noun suffix (neutral tone here)
Memory hook: 木 (wood) on the left = chairs were originally wooden. The 子 suffix turns 椅 into a noun, like 桌子 / 房子.
Measure word for 椅子
Example sentences
这把椅子很舒服。
Zhè bǎ yǐzi hěn shūfu.
This chair is comfortable.
spoken
请坐这把椅子。
Qǐng zuò zhè bǎ yǐzi.
Please sit in this chair.
polite
桌子旁边有两把椅子。
Zhuōzi pángbiān yǒu liǎng bǎ yǐzi.
There are two chairs next to the table.
neutral
猫在椅子上睡觉。
Māo zài yǐzi shàng shuìjiào.
The cat is sleeping on the chair.
spoken
Common phrases with 椅子
Synonyms
座椅 ('seat-chair') is more formal/technical — used for car seats, airplane seats, theater seats. For a regular household chair, say 椅子.
Don't confuse 椅子 with
桌子 is 'table / desk' — flat surface you put things on. 椅子 is 'chair' — what you sit on. They almost always appear together in 一桌一椅 (a desk and a chair).
凳子 is a 'stool' — no backrest. 椅子 has a back. Chinese makes this distinction more strictly than English; a bar stool is 凳子, not 椅子.
沙发 is 'sofa / couch' (from English 'sofa'). Soft, multi-person seat. 椅子 is a single-person chair with a back.
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