# 幾許
## Chinese
### Pronunciation

* Mandarin
    (Pinyin): jǐxǔ
    (Zhuyin): ㄐㄧˇ ㄒㄩˇ
* Cantonese (Jyutping): gei$^2$ heoi$^2$
* Mandarin
** (Standard Chinese)
*** Hanyu Pinyin: jǐxǔ [Phonetic: jíxǔ]
*** Zhuyin: ㄐㄧˇ ㄒㄩˇ
*** Tongyong Pinyin: jǐsyǔ
*** Wade–Giles: chi$^3$-hsü$^3$
*** Yale: jǐ-syǔ
*** Gwoyeu Romatzyh: jiisheu
*** Palladius: цзисюй (czisjuj)
*** Sinological IPA : /t͡ɕi²¹⁴⁻³⁵ ɕy²¹⁴⁻²¹⁽⁴⁾/
* Cantonese
** (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
*** Jyutping: gei$^2$ heoi$^2$
*** Yale: géi héui
*** Cantonese Pinyin: gei$^2$ hoey$^2$
*** Guangdong Romanization: géi$^2$ hêu$^2$
*** Sinological IPA : /kei̯³⁵ hɵy̯³⁵/

### Adverb

幾許
* (literary) how much; how many

#### Synonyms

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

#### Descendants

* → 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: [ikɯ̟ba̠kɯ̟]

#### Adverb

幾(いく)許(ばく) • (ikubaku)
* how much, how many
    Synonyms: どのぐらい, どれほど, いくら
* (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
* (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

* A user suggests that this Japanese entry be moved, merged or split, giving the reason: “Totally irrelevant spellings, with completely different etymology, accent, possibly pronunciation and even the meanings.”.
* Please see the discussion on Requests for moves, mergers and splits for more information and remove this template after the request has been fulfilled.
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)
* many, a lot

### Etymology 3
#### Adverb

幾許(いくだ) • (ikuda)
* (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.) :

### References

* 1 2 Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
* ↑ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN