马 (mǎ): horse
马 (mǎ) is a Chinese character meaning “horse.” Classified as HSK Level 3 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 一 (structural). It ranks #276 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically pictographic, 马 simplified form of 馬, a horse galloping to the left. Its radical form 马 (horse) appears in many related characters such as 骑 (qí, to ride), 验 (yàn, to test, to verify), 驶 (shǐ, (of a vehicle, horse etc) to go fast).
Definitions
- horse
Etymology & Origin
pictographicSimplified form of 馬, a horse galloping to the left
Stroke Order
Practice writing 马 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 马
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 罗马 | luó mǎ | Rome, capital of Italy |
| 马克 | mǎ kè | mark (monetary unit) |
| 马丁 | mǎ dīng | Martin (name) |
| 马车 | mǎ chē | cart |
| 立马 | lì mǎ | at once |
| 巴马 | bā mǎ | see 巴馬瑤族自治縣|巴马瑶族自治县[Ba1 ma3 Yao2 zu2 Zi4 zhi4 xian4] |
| 马厩 | mǎ jiù | stable |
| 斑马 | bān mǎ | zebra |
| 宝马 | bǎo mǎ | precious horse |
| 荷马 | hé mǎ | Homer, poet of ancient Greece |
| 出马 | chū mǎ | to set out (on a campaign) |
| 河马 | hé mǎ | hippopotamus |
| 马驹 | mǎ jū | young horse (colt or filly) |
| 马达 | mǎ dá | (loanword) motor |
| 马鞍 | mǎ ān | saddle |
马 appears in 100 compound words: 49 as the first character, 51 as the last, and 0 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 马 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (70)
to pretend to be ignorant of something in order to gloss it over; to act dumb
Tsushima Strait; Eastern Channel (a channel of the Korea Strait, to the east and southeast of Tsushima Island)
to fire after the horse has bolted (idiom); to act too late to be effective
Tsushima Strait; Eastern Channel (a channel of the Korea Strait, to the east and southeast of Tsushima Island)
to fire after the horse has bolted (idiom); to act too late to be effective
Showing 12 of 70 idioms containing 马.
Example Sentences
马是一种很有灵性的动物，和人类关系密切。
Mǎ shì yì zhǒng hěn yǒu língxìng de dòngwù, hé rénlèi guānxi mìqiè.
Horses are very intelligent animals with close relationships to humans.
马年话马丨龙马精神的“龙马”究竟是什么?
mǎ nián huà mǎ 丨 lóng mǎ jīng shén de lóng mǎ jiū jìng shì shén má ?
The year of the horse talk about the horse丨the dragon horse spirit of the "dragon horse" what exactly is it?
马年新春第一班,武汉95后高铁司机的“飞驰...
mǎ nián xīn chūn dì yī bān , wǔ hàn hòu gāo tiě sī jī de fēi chí . . .
The First Shift of the New Year of the Horse, Wuhan's 95-year-old High-speed Railway Driver's "Flying...
东西问丨全球政要马年“集体说马” 背后藏着三重文化..
dōng xī wèn 丨 quán qiú zhèng yāo mǎ nián jí tī shuō mǎ bēi hòu zàng zhe sān chóng wén huā . .
The world's top politicians are talking about horses in the Year of the Horse, a trio of cultural...
在春晚与沈腾马丽同框的机器人 在全国100多个地方..
zài chūn wǎn yú 沈 téng mǎ lí tóng kuàng de jī qì rén zài quán guó duō gě dì fāng . .
The robot that shared the frame with Shen Teng and Ma Li at the Spring Festival Gala In more than 100 places across the country...
一路走来,到了春节!上海静安祝您龙马精神、马到成功..
yī lù zǒu lái , dào le chūn jié ! shǎng hǎi jìng ān zhù nín lóng mǎ jīng shén mǎ dào chéng gōng . .
All the way to Chinese New Year! Shanghai Jing An wishes you the best of luck and success...
可以让我骑一会儿这匹马吗？
Kěyǐ ràng wǒ qí yīhuìr zhè pǐ mǎ ma?
Can I ride this horse for a while?
我一定要马上去吗？
Wǒ yīdìngyào mǎshàng qù ma?
Must I go there at once?
这是你的打字机马？
Zhè shì nǐ de dǎzìjī mǎ?
Is this typewriter yours?
那是一匹公马还是母马？
Nàshi yī pǐ gōngmǎ háishi mǔ mǎ?
Is this a stallion or a mare?
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 马 (mǎ) mean in Chinese?
How many strokes does 马 have?
What is the radical of 马?
What are the components of 马?
What are common words containing 马?
What characters sound the same as 马 (mǎ)?
Is 马 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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