妈 (mā): mother
妈 (mā) is a Chinese character meaning “mother.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 女 (semantic) and 马 (phonetic). It ranks #750 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 妈 woman. Its radical form 女 (woman) appears in many related characters such as 女 (nǚ, woman), 奶 (nǎi, grandmother, milk), 她 (tā, she).
Definitions
- mother
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 妈 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 妈
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 他妈的phrase | tā mā de | (taboo curse) damn it! |
| 姨妈noun | yí mā | (coll.) mother's sister |
| 姑妈noun | gū mā | (coll.) father's married sister |
| 婆婆妈妈adjective | pó po mā mā | effeminate |
| 奶妈noun | nǎi mā | wet nurse |
| 舅妈noun | jiù mā | (coll.) aunt |
| 后妈noun | hòu mā | (coll.) stepmother |
| 老妈子noun | lǎo mā zi | older female servant |
| 干妈noun | gān mā | adoptive mother (traditional adoption, i.e. without legal ramifications) |
| 老大妈noun | lǎo dà mā | "Madam" (affectionate term for an elderly woman) |
| 阿妈noun | ā mā | grandma (paternal) (Tw) |
| 妈了个巴子 | mā le ge bā zi | fuck! |
| 妈的法克 | mā de fǎ kè | motherfucker (loanword) |
| 日你妈interjection | rì nǐ mā | see 肏你媽|肏你妈 |
| 事儿妈noun | shì r mā | (coll.) fussbudget |
妈 appears in 43 compound words: 26 as the first character, 58 as the last, and 16 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 妈 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (1)
Example Sentences
我妈妈退休后开始学习画画，现在已经画得很不错了。
Wǒ māma tuìxiū hòu kāishǐ xuéxí huàhuà, xiànzài yǐjīng huà de hěn búcuò le.
My mother started learning to paint after retirement and is now quite good at it.
...0户社区寻亲难 大安警10分钟助洋童与爸妈团圆
. . . 0 hù shè qū xún qīn nán dà ān jǐng 1 0 fēn zhōng zhù yáng tóng yǔ bà mā tuán yuán
... It is difficult to find relatives in 0 communities, and the Da'an police help foreign children reunite with their parents in 10 minutes
...岁母亲初二离世!陈思安忍3天痛揭噩耗:爸妈天上团聚了
. . . suì mǔ qīn chū èr lí shì ! chén sī ān rěn 3 tiān tòng jiē è hào : bà mā tiān shàng tuán jù le
... My mother passed away on the second day of the new year! Chen Si'an endured for 3 days to reveal the bad news: his parents were reunited in heaven
...燶白裇衫卖8884港元吓亲人 网民笑:阿妈都整过一件|网上热话
. . . 燶 bái 裇 shān mài 8 8 8 4 gǎng yuán hè qīn rén wǎng mín xiào : ā mā dōu zhěng guò yī jiàn wǎng shàng rè huà
... The burnt white shirt sold for HK$8,884 to scare relatives Netizens laughed: Mom has made a piece|Hot topic on the Internet
新春走基层丨送给妈妈的一只手镯,圈住长沙南站驶出的..
xīn chūn zǒu jī céng 丨 sòng gěi mā mā de yī zhī shǒu 镯 , juān zhù cháng shā nán zhàn shǐ chū de . .
The new year walk grass-roots level 丨 a bracelet for mom, circling the Changsha South Station out of the ...
...春走基层丨9年前带3岁女儿开出租车的单亲妈妈,除..
. . . chūn zǒu jī céng 丨 nián qián dài suì nǚ ér kāi chū zū chē de shàn qīn mā mā , chú . .
... The single mother who drove a cab with her 3-year-old daughter nine years ago, except ...
你的妈妈会开车吗？
Nǐ de māma huì kāichē ma?
Can your mother drive a car?
妈咪，我可以去游泳吗？
Māmi, wǒ kěyǐ qù yóuyǒng ma?
Mommy, may I go swimming?
汤姆昨天帮他妈妈的忙吗？
Tāngmǔ zuótiān bāng tā māma de máng ma?
Did Tom help his mother yesterday?
又再说妈妈的坏话了喔？
Yòu zàishuō māma de huàihuà le ō?
Talking bad about mother again, eh?
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 女 (woman) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 妈 (mā) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 妈 have?
What is the radical of 妈?
What are the components of 妈?
What are common words containing 妈?
What characters sound the same as 妈 (mā)?
Is 妈 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 妈 with real-time feedback
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