马/馬 mǎ — horse; Ma, a common surname

Pinyin

• mǎ (third tone, dipping)

horse; Ma, a common surname

Character breakdown

• 马shape partA single pictograph, and a radical in its own right: the traditional 馬 shows the mane, the body and four dots for the legs.

Mnemonic

The traditional 馬 is a horse in profile — mane along the top, body, and four dots where the legs were. The simplified 马 keeps the outline in three strokes and lets the legs go. It heads its own section (骑 to ride, 骂 to scold), and it is the phonetic in three characters a beginner meets at once: 妈 mā a mother, 吗 ma the question particle, 骂 mà to scold. Same sound, different tones, different radicals.

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 马

• 马/馬mǎ (third tone, dipping)horse
• 马上/馬上mǎshàng (third tone, dipping)at once, right away, immediately
• 马路/馬路mǎ (third tone, dipping) lù (fourth tone, falling)street
• 马车/馬車mǎ (third tone, dipping) chē (first tone, high and level)cart
• 马桶/馬桶mǎ (third tone, dipping) tǒng (third tone, dipping)chamber pot
• 马力/馬力mǎ (third tone, dipping) lì (fourth tone, falling)horsepower
• 黑马/黑馬hēi (first tone, high and level) mǎ (third tone, dipping)dark horse
• 马虎/馬虎mǎ (third tone, dipping) hu (neutral tone)careless
• 骏马/駿馬jùn (fourth tone, falling) mǎ (third tone, dipping)fine horse
• 马戏/馬戲mǎ (third tone, dipping) xì (fourth tone, falling)circus
• 千军万马/千軍萬馬qiān (first tone, high and level) jūn (first tone, high and level) wàn (fourth tone, falling) mǎ (third tone, dipping)magnificent army with thousands of men and horses (idiom); impressive display of manpower
• 马后炮/馬後炮mǎ (third tone, dipping) hòu (fourth tone, falling) pào (fourth tone, falling)lit. firing after the horse