幾許

Chinese

		how much; how many; several how much; how many; several; a few; almost	to allow; to permit; to praise to allow; to permit; to praise; surname
trad. (幾許)		幾	許
simp. (几许)		几	许

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): jǐxǔ

  (Zhuyin): ㄐㄧˇ ㄒㄩˇ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): gei² heoi²

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: jǐxǔ [Phonetic: jíxǔ]
    • Zhuyin: ㄐㄧˇ ㄒㄩˇ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: jǐsyǔ
    • Wade–Giles: chi³-hsü³
    • Yale: jǐ-syǔ
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: jiisheu
    • Palladius: цзисюй (czisjuj)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡ɕi²¹⁴⁻³⁵ ɕy²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: gei² heoi²
    • Yale: géi héui
    • Cantonese Pinyin: gei² hoey²
    • Guangdong Romanization: géi² hêu²
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kei̯³⁵ hɵy̯³⁵/

Adverb

幾許

1. (literary) how much; how many

Synonyms

Dialectal synonyms of 多少 (“how many; how much”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Classical Chinese		幾, 幾何, 幾多, 幾許, 多少
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		多少
Mandarin	Beijing	多少
	Taiwan	多少
	Jinan	多少
	Xi'an	多少
	Wuhan	幾多, 好多
	Chengdu	好多
	Guilin	好多
	Xiangtan (Jiangnan Industries Group koine)	幾, 幾多
	Yangzhou	多少
	Hefei	好些, 好多
	Singapore	多少
Cantonese	Guangzhou	幾多, 幾
	Hong Kong	幾多, 幾
	Taishan	幾多
	Yangjiang	幾多, 幾
	Singapore (Guangfu)	幾多, 幾
Gan	Nanchang	幾多
Hakka	Meixian	幾多
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	幾多
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	幾多
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	幾多
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	幾多
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	幾多
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	幾多
Jin	Taiyuan	多少
Northern Min	Jian'ou	幾多
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	若夥
	Singapore (Fuqing)	若夥
Southern Min	Xiamen	偌濟
	Quanzhou	偌濟
	Shishi	偌濟
	Zhangzhou	偌濟
	Zhao'an	偌濟
	Tainan	偌濟, 幾
	Penang (Hokkien)	幾
	Singapore (Hokkien)	偌濟, 幾
	Manila (Hokkien)	偌濟, 幾
	Chaozhou	若濟
	Shantou	若濟
	Jieyang	若濟
	Pontianak (Teochew)	若濟
	Haikou	偌濟
Wu	Shanghai	多少, 幾化, 幾多化 dated
	Suzhou	幾化
	Wuxi	幾化
	Ningbo	多少
	Wenzhou	幾倈兒, 幾倈
	Lishui	幾粒
	Qingyuan	多
Xiang	Changsha	好多
	Xiangtan	幾, 幾多
	Shuangfeng	好多, 幾多

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (幾許):

• → Japanese: 幾許(いくばく) (ikubaku)

Japanese

Kanji in this term
幾	許
いく Grade: S	ばく Grade: 5
kun’yomi	irregular

Alternative spellings
幾何 幾ばく

Etymology 1

Compound of 幾 (iku, “how”) +‎ ば (ba, “much, amount”, ancient element, also appears in obsolete そこば (sokoba, “that much”)) +‎ く (ku, ancient suffix used to form adverbs; compare か (ka) used to form adjectives).

First cited to the Man'yōshū, completed in roughly 759.

The kanji spelling is an orthographic borrowing from Chinese 幾許／几许 (jǐxǔ).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) いくばく [ìkúbákú] (Heiban – [0])
• IPA^(key): [ikɯ̟ᵝba̠kɯ̟ᵝ]

Adverb

幾(いく)許(ばく) • (ikubaku) 

1. how much, how many

   Synonyms: どのぐらい, どれほど, いくら

2. (usually followed by か (ka)), few, a little bit

   Synonyms: 僅か (wazuka), 少し (sukoshi)

   いくばくかの金(かね)を渡(わた)す

   ikubaku ka no kane o watasu

   to hand over a little bit of money

3. (chiefly in the negative) a little bit, not much

   余命(よめい)幾許(いくばく)もない

   yomei ikubaku mo nai

   having a short time to live

Usage notes

This term is often spelled in hiragana.

Etymology 2

Various uncommon readings.

Adverb

幾許(こきし) or 幾許(こきだ) or 幾許(ここだ) or 幾許(ここば) or 幾許(ここら) • (kokishi or kokida or kokoda or kokoba or kokora) 

1. many, a lot

Etymology 3

Adverb

幾許(いくだ) • (ikuda) 

1. (chiefly in the negative) a little bit, not much

Etymology 4

For pronunciation and definitions of 幾許 – see the following entry.

【若干そこばく】 [adverb] a little, any 【若干そくばく】 [adverb] a little, any 【若干そこばこ】 [adverb] a little, any 【若干そこば】 [adverb] a little, any

(This term, 幾許, is an alternative spelling of the above term.)