买 (mǎi): to buy, to purchase
买 (mǎi) is a Chinese character meaning “to buy.” Classified as HSK Level 1 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 乛 (structural) and 头 (structural). It ranks #758 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Definitions
- to buy
- to purchase
Stroke Order
Practice writing 买 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
HSK Vocabulary with 买
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 买家noun | mǎi jiā | buyer |
| 收买verb | shōu mǎi | to purchase |
| 牙买加proper-noun | yá mǎi jiā | Jamaica |
| 孟买proper-noun | mèng mǎi | Mumbai (formerly Bombay) |
| 买主noun | mǎi zhǔ | customer |
| 买通verb | mǎi tōng | to bribe |
| 买不起 | mǎi bu qǐ | cannot afford |
| 买进verb | mǎi jìn | to purchase |
| 买房verb | mǎi fáng | to buy a house |
| 买账 | mǎi zhàng | variant of 買帳|买帐 |
| 买方noun | mǎi fāng | buyer (in contracts) |
| 买入 | mǎi rù | to buy (finance) |
| 招兵买马phrase | zhāo bīng mǎi mǎ | lit. to recruit soldiers and buy horses (idiom) |
| 强买强卖 | qiǎng mǎi qiǎng mài | to force sb to buy or sell |
| 买断verb | mǎi duàn | to buy out |
买 appears in 70 compound words: 53 as the first character, 14 as the last, and 33 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 买 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Idioms & Chengyu (10)
lit. to buy smiles to seek happiness; abandon oneself to the pleasures of the flesh (idiom)
to raise or enlarge an army by recruiting soldiers and buying horses; to rally people or to enlarge an organization
Showing 9 of 10 idioms containing 买.
Example Sentences
周末我去超市买了很多新鲜的蔬菜和水果。
Zhōumò wǒ qù chāoshì mǎi le hěn duō xīnxiān de shūcài hé shuǐguǒ.
On the weekend, I went to the supermarket and bought a lot of fresh vegetables and fruits.
买刮刮乐停不下来?4星座“赌性超强” 牡羊...
mǎi guā guā lè tíng bù xià lái ? 4 xīng zuò dǔ xìng chāo qiáng mǔ yáng . . .
Can't stop buying scratch cards? 4 constellations "super gambling" Aries...
豪赌AI却让普通员工买单?Meta据称连续两年削减..
háo dǔ A I què ràng pǔ tōng yuán gōng mǎi dān ? M e t a jù chèn lián xù liǎng nián xiāo jiǎn . .
Gambling on AI but making ordinary employees pay? Meta is said to have cut for two consecutive years:
新春走基层|超六成受访青年认为购买潮玩盲盒是“为情..
xīn chūn zǒu jī céng chāo liù chéng shòu fǎng qīng nián rèn wéi gòu mǎi cháo wán máng hé shì wéi qíng . .
Over 60% of the young people surveyed think that buying a blind box is "for the love of...
...!有人称一家四口亏了4000!网友:后悔买早..
. . . ! yǒu rén chèn yī jiā sì kǒu kuī le ! wǎng yǒu hòu huǐ mǎi zǎo . .
...! Someone claimed that a family of four lost 4000! Netizen:Regret buying early...
春运机票大跳水,有人一家四口提前买票亏了4000元..
chūn yùn jī piào dà tiào shuǐ , yǒu rén yī jiā sì kǒu tí qián mǎi piào kuī le yuán . .
Spring Festival airfare dive, someone family of four bought tickets in advance of the loss of 4,000 yuan ...
这台电脑你用多少钱买的？
Zhè tái diànnǎo nǐ yòng duōshao qián mǎi de?
How much was your new computer?
那条裙子你买了多少钱？
Nà tiáo qúnzi nǐ mǎi le duōshao qián?
How much did you pay for the dress?
我多买一些，可以便宜点吗？
Wǒ duō mǎi yīxiē, kěyǐ piányi diǎn ma?
If I buy more, can I get them cheaper?
为什么你买了一本那么贵的词典？
Wèishénme nǐ mǎi le yī běn nàme guì de cídiǎn?
Why did you get such a costly dictionary?
Character Family
Frequently Asked Questions
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What are common words containing 买?
What characters sound the same as 买 (mǎi)?
Is 买 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
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