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