嘛 (ma): modal particle indicating that sth is obvious, particle indicating a pause for emphasis
嘛 (ma) is a Chinese character meaning “modal particle indicating that sth is obvious.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 口 (semantic) and 麻 (phonetic). It ranks #1617 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 嘛 mouth. Its radical form 口 (mouth) appears in many related characters such as 口 (kǒu, mouth), 叫 (jiào, to call, to be called), 右 (yòu, (bound form) right).
Definitions
- modal particle indicating that sth is obvious
- particle indicating a pause for emphasis
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 嘛 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 达赖喇嘛 | dá lài lǎ ma | Dalai Lama |
| 喇嘛 | lǎ ma | lama, spiritual teacher in Tibetan Buddhism |
| 要嘛 | yào ma | either ... |
| 干嘛 | gàn má | what are you doing? |
| 喇嘛教 | lǎ ma jiào | Lamaism |
| 唵嘛呢叭咪吽 | ǎn má ní bā mī hōng | om mani padme hum (Buddhist mantra) |
| 班禅喇嘛 | bān chán lǎ ma | Panchen Lama |
| 喇嘛庙 | lǎ ma miào | lamasery |
嘛 appears in 8 compound words: 0 as the first character, 63 as the last, and 38 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 嘛 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (1)
Example Sentences
妈妈嘛嘱我要按时吃饭，注意身体健康。
mā mā má zhǔ wǒ yāo àn shí chī fàn , zhù yì shēn tī jiàn kāng .
Mom always reminds me to eat on time and take care of my health.
渐冻症会感觉异常嘛?视听触嗅觉通常保持正常的特征
jiān dòng zhèng huì gǎn jué yì cháng ma ? shì tīng chù xiù jué tōng cháng bǎo chí zhèng cháng de tè zhēng
什么事？干嘛一脸凶巴巴的。
Shénmeshì? gànmá yī liǎn xiōng bābā de.
What's the matter? You look very angry.
妳干嘛不穿件连衣裙呢？
Nǐ gànmá bù chuān jiàn liányīqún ne?
Why don't you wear a dress?
我干嘛在跟你叨叨这些？
Wǒ gànmá zài gēn nǐ dāodao zhèxiē?
Why am I telling you all this?
你要用这辆车干嘛？
Nǐ yào yòng zhè liàng chē gànmá?
What are you going to use this car for?
三更半夜不睡觉，你在干嘛呢？
Sāngēngbànyè bù shuìjiào, nǐ zài gànmá ne?
It's the middle of the night. Why aren't you asleep?
小伙子，在这儿干嘛呢？
Xiǎohuǒzi, zài zhèr gànmá ne?
What are you doing here, young man?
爸爸，你刚才在干嘛?
Bàba, nǐ gāngcái zài gànmá?
Father, What were you just doing?
“你去日本干嘛？”“去东京参加一个会议。”
"nǐ qù Rìběn gànmá?""qù Dōngjīng cānjiā yī gè huìyì."
"Why are you going to Japan?" "To attend a conference in Tokyo."
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 嘛 (ma) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 嘛 and 磨?
How many strokes does 嘛 have?
What is the radical of 嘛?
What are the components of 嘛?
What are common words containing 嘛?
What characters sound the same as 嘛 (ma)?
Is 嘛 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 嘛 with real-time feedback
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