counter
counter for thin, flat objects; sheet; plate; coin
The everyday counter for flat things such as paper, tickets, plates, cards, photos, coins, and similar sheet-like objects.
紙を三枚コピーしてください。
Please make three copies of the paper.
切符を一枚買った。
I bought one ticket.
counter
serving of soba; portion of gyōza
Restaurant and food-counting use for one portion or tray/plate of certain foods, especially soba; gyōza may also be counted this way in some ordering contexts.
もりそばを二枚ください。
Two servings of mori soba, please.
counter
sumo rank position; wrestler at a given rank
Sumo jargon for positions on the ranking sheet, and by extension the wrestlers occupying those positions, as in 前頭三枚目.
相撲では、前頭三枚目のように番付上の位置を枚で表す。
In sumo, positions on the ranking sheet are expressed with mai, as in maegashira number three.
counter
field; rice paddy plot
Used to count individual flat plots of farmland, especially rice paddies; most natural with words such as 田, 田んぼ, and 畑.
祖父は山あいに田んぼを三枚持っている。
My grandfather has three rice paddies in a mountain valley.
counter
Archaic or historical counter for palanquin bearers; not a productive modern counting use.
古い用法では、「駕籠かき二枚」のように担ぎ手を枚で数えた。
In older usage, bearers could be counted with mai, as in 'two palanquin bearers.'
A very general counter for individual objects; 枚 is specifically for flat or sheet-like things.
Used for long, thin objects such as bottles, pencils, roads, and phone calls; 枚 is for flat objects.
Counts plates or platefuls of food; 枚 can count the physical plate itself and is also used for some food portions such as soba.
A Sino-Japanese-style counter written with 枚 and read まい. The spelling is conventionally associated with counting flat pieces or sheets; no more specific historical derivation is specified.