(): code, yard

() is a Chinese character meaning “code, yard.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of (semantic) and (phonetic). It ranks #1337 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).

Etymologically derived, stone. Its radical form (stone) appears in many related characters such as (què, certain, true), (wǎn, bowl), (pèng, to touch, to bump).

Native pronunciation

Definitions

  1. code, yard

Etymology & Origin

pictophoneticstone

Decomposition: ⿰石马 (layout: left-right)

Stroke Order

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Practice writing with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.

Words & Compounds

HSK Vocabulary with

WordPinyinMeaningHSK
nounhào mǎnumber3
nounmì mǎcipher4
nounmǎ touwharf6
verbsǎo mǎto scan a QR code or barcode4
nounèr wéi mǎ2D barcode5

Common Compounds

WordPinyinMeaning
qǐ mǎat the minimum
dài mǎcode
chóu mǎbargaining chip
shù mǎnumber
biān mǎto code
chǐ mǎsize
liǎng mǎ shìtwo things that are fundamentally different from each other
jià mǎprice tag
jiě mǎto decode
jiě mǎ qìdecoder
xì mǎtheatrical piece
shí bié mǎidentifier
tiáo xíng mǎbarcode
mǎ zi(coll.) numeral
fǎ mǎstandard weight (used on a balance scale)
100
Total compounds
12
As first character
68
As last character
20
As middle character

appears in 100 compound words: 12 as the first character, 68 as the last, and 20 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 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.

yóu
0.848214,932 co-occurrences
biān
0.768284,430 co-occurrences
zhèng
0.566215,184 co-occurrences
tóu
0.55749,242 co-occurrences
shòu
0.55111,856 co-occurrences
pīn
0.55017,568 co-occurrences
wéi
0.529229,536 co-occurrences
dài
0.509131,586 co-occurrences
sǎo
0.4694,065 co-occurrences
shǔ
0.45141,778 co-occurrences

Idioms & Chengyu (1)

céng céng jiā mǎHSK 3+

to increase bit by bit; repeated increments

phrase

Example Sentences

AI-Generated

请输入验证以完成登录,确保账户安全。

Qǐng shūrù yànzhèng mǎ yǐ wánchéng dēnglù, quèbǎo zhànghù ānquán.

Please enter the verification code to complete login and ensure account security.

99 健康网Feb 2026

日本m欧洲m怎么选合适?这份选攻略请收好

rì běn m mǎ ōu zhōu m mǎ zěn má xuǎn gě shì ? zhè fèn xuǎn mǎ gōng lüè qǐng shōu hǎo

How to choose the right Japanese M size and European M size? Please keep this code selection guide

99 健康网Feb 2026

日本一的穿着建议?选对尺穿出舒适感

rì běn yī mǎ èr mǎ sān mǎ de chuān zhe jiàn yì ? xuǎn duì chǐ mǎ chuān chū shū shì gǎn

What are the suggestions for wearing a size 1, 2, and 3 in Japan? Choose the right size to wear comfortably

UdnnewsindexFeb 2026

...判违法...南华早报:3月川习会 华府筹更少了

. . . pàn wéi fǎ . . . nán huá zǎo bào : 3 yuè chuān xí huì huá fǔ chóu mǎ gēng shǎo le

... Ruled illegal... South China Morning Post: The Sichuan-Xi meeting in March Washington has fewer chips

工商時報Feb 2026

...特币还能买?《富爸爸.穷爸爸》作者逆风加 两大进场原因曝光

. . . tè bì hái néng mǎi ? fù bà bà . qióng bà bà zuò zhě nì fēng jiā mǎ liǎng dà jìn chǎng yuán yīn pù guāng

... Can you still buy special coins? "Rich Dad. The author of "Poor Dad" has increased against the wind, and the two major reasons for entering the venue have been exposed

百度新闻Feb 2026

新春跨境消费实现“丝滑”扫,解锁人民币“走出去”..

xīn chūn kuà jìng xiāo fèi shí xiàn sī huá sǎo mǎ , xiè suǒ rén mín bì zǒu chū qù . .

The New Year's cross-border consumption to realize the "silky smooth" sweep code, unlocking the RMB "go out"...

Tatoeba

你确定你拨对号了吗?

Nǐ quèdìng nǐ bō duìhào mǎ le ma?

Are you sure you dialed the right number?

Tatoeba

我们毫不费力地想出了密

Wǒmen háobùfèilì de xiǎngchū le mìmǎ.

We easily figured out the password.

Tatoeba

加注释使代更易读。

Jiāzhù shì shǐ dàimǎ gèng yìdú.

Adding comments makes the code easier to read.

Tatoeba

我能破译这个箱子的密

Wǒ néng pòyì zhège xiāngzi de mìmǎ.

I can crack the password of this box.

Character Family

Homophones — Characters pronounced

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 码 (mǎ) mean in Chinese?
码 (mǎ) primarily means "code, yard." It is classified as HSK Level 3, making it a beginner-level character. It ranks #1337 in character frequency.
How many strokes does 码 have?
码 is written with 8 strokes. The correct stroke order matters for recognition and handwriting speed — practice with the animated guide above to build proper technique.
What is the radical of 码?
The radical associated with 码 is 石 (stone). This radical appears in many characters related to stone.
What are the components of 码?
码 is composed of: 石 (semantic), 马 (phonetic). Its IDS decomposition is ⿰石马 with a left-right layout. Understanding the components helps with both memorization and recognizing related characters.
What are common words containing 码?
Common words with 码 include: 号码 (hào mǎ, "number"); 密码 (mì mǎ, "cipher"); 起码 (qǐ mǎ, "at the minimum"); 码头 (mǎ tou, "wharf"); 代码 (dài mǎ, "code"). There are over 100 compound words containing this character.
What characters sound the same as 码 (mǎ)?
Several characters share the pronunciation mǎ: 妈 (mother), 蚂 (ant (in 蚂蚁)), 骂 (to scold), 吗 (question particle), and 5 more. Context and tones help distinguish between them in speech and writing.
Is 码 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
No. The simplified form is 码 and the traditional form is 碼.

Practice writing with real-time feedback

Trace stroke sequences, hear native pronunciation, and build lasting retention with spaced repetition in the HanziFeed app.

Character data sourced from Unihan (Unicode Consortium), SUBTLEX-CH frequency corpus (Cai & Brysbaert, 2010), and Make Me a Hanzi (stroke data). Collocation strength measured via NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information). Verified by the HanziFeed linguistics team.

HSK classification follows the HSK 3.0 Standard (Center for Language Education and Cooperation, CLEC, 2022 revision). Idiom data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).

Data last verified: March 2026.