A
classifier, sometimes called a
counter word, is a
word or
affix that is used to accompany
nouns and can be considered to "classify" the noun depending on the type of its
referent. Classifiers play an important role in the grammar of certain languages, especially
East Asian languages, including
Chinese and
Japanese. In European languages classifiers are absent or marginal; an example of a word that may be considered to have the function of a classifier in
English is
head in phrases like "five head of cattle".