条
tiáo
strip
item; article; clause (of law or treaty); classifier for long thin things (ribbon, river, road, trousers etc)
trailing stroke (夂) + tree (木) = a stripped branch; counter for long thin things
A branch stripped from a tree (木) becomes a long, thin piece — the image behind counting roads, rivers, and ribbons by the same measure. 夂 here is largely structural rather than strongly semantic, but the wood component anchors the idea of something slender and cut.
桌上有两条鱼。
zhuō shàng yǒu liǎng tiáo yú。
On the table there are two fish.
这条路很长，走完要一个小时。
zhè tiáo lù hěn cháng，zǒu wán yào yī gè xiǎo shí。
This road is very long; it takes an hour to walk the whole way.
Words with 条
必要条件
bì yào tiáo jiàn
requirement
条文
tiáo wén
clause
死路一条
sǐ lù yī tiáo
(idiom) dead end
发条
fā tiáo
clockwork spring (used to power a watch or windup toy etc)
东条英机
dōng tiáo yīng jī
Tojo Hideki (1884-1948), Japanese military leader hanged as war criminal in 1948
进度条
jìn dù tiáo
(computing) progress bar
递条子
dì tiáo zi
to pass a message
里瓦几亚条约
lǐ wǎ jī yà tiáo yuē
Treaty of Livadia (1879) between Russia and China, relating to territory in Chinese Turkistan, renegotiated in 1881 (Treaty of St. Petersburg)
金条
jīn tiáo
gold bar
铅条
qiān tiáo
strip of lead
银条
yín tiáo
silver bar
锯条
jù tiáo
a sawblade