妈/媽 mā — mother, mum (chiefly in 妈妈); a form of address for an older married woman

Pinyin

• mā (first tone, high and level)

mother, mum (chiefly in 妈妈); a form of address for an older married woman

Character breakdown

• 女meaning partThe woman radical: the word names a female member of the family.
• 马sound part马 mǎ for the sound alone. Said in the first tone it becomes mā; the horse has nothing to do with the meaning.

Mnemonic

A woman 女 with a horse 马 beside her for the sound. 马 is one of the busiest phonetics in the language: put a mouth beside it and you get the question particle 吗, put a heart-free mouth and it is 骂 to scold. The word is nearly always doubled — 妈妈 — and the second syllable loses its tone.

A memory aid written by HSK Guide editors. It is not an etymology and does not describe the historical origin of the character.

Words containing 妈

• 妈妈/媽媽māma (first tone, high and level)mum, mother

Radical 女 — other characters

• 好hǎo (third tone, dipping) hào (fourth tone, falling)good, fine, well; easy to do; (hào) to be fond of, to like
• 女nǚ (third tone, dipping)woman; female; daughter (in 女儿)
• 姐jiě (third tone, dipping)elder sister; a young woman (in 小姐)
• 妹mèi (fourth tone, falling)younger sister