块
kuài
One chunk broken off something bigger: 块
The picture A thick piece pulled away by hand from a bigger mass that used to be whole. 块 counts one thick chunk broken off a mass; 片 counts one thin slice shaved off that chunk.
Where the picture shows up in 块
-
a piece cut off
再给我一块蛋糕。
zài gěi wǒ yí kuài dàngāo
One more piece of cake, please.
A knife going into a whole cake and lifting one wedge onto a plate.
-
something served as a lump
这块肉有点儿老。
zhè kuài ròu yǒudiǎnr lǎo
This meat is a bit tough.
Lifting a thick piece of meat off the plate with chopsticks to look at it.
-
a block set hard
浴室里有一块香皂。
yùshì lǐ yǒu yí kuài xiāngzào
There's a bar of soap in the bathroom.
One square bar of soap sitting in its dish beside the basin.
-
money broken into units
这个五块钱。
zhège wǔ kuài qián
This one is five yuan.
Counting five notes out onto the counter.
块 is the spoken form of 元; prices are said with 块 almost every time.
-
a plot cut out of land
他在城外买了一块地。
tā zài chéng wài mǎi le yí kuài dì
He bought a plot outside the city.
A square marked off across an open field and taken out as one plot.
All of it in one picture
The slice of cake cut for you is 块, the piece of meat on the plate is 块, the bar of soap in the bathroom is 块. So is '5 yuan' when you say a price, and so is the plot of land bought outside town. 块 counts not shape but 'one lump taken out of something bigger'. Even the money word keeps that feel: one chunk broken off a larger sum.